


Cat's In The Cradle

by emilliemariee



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Arthur Morgan Deserves Happiness, Arthur Morgan Does Not Have Tuberculosis, Arthur Morgan has a son, Arthur is a dad, Arthurs son is funny, Family, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Smut, Growing Family, High Honor Arthur Morgan, I'm Bad At Tagging, Parenthood, Slow Burn, Son and father - Freeform, Teen Pregnancy, Video Game: Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018), van der linde gang - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 09:27:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 35,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29258169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emilliemariee/pseuds/emilliemariee
Summary: Your son grew more to be like his father with every passing day. It wasn’t hard to see who’s child it was, his boy was just like him. You knew he wanted a sibling, but could the camp (or you two) handle another little Arthur Morgan? What does the future hold for your family?This story follows Arthur/Fem!Reader and their growing family, as well as events in the camp.(WIP).
Relationships: Arthur Morgan & Van der Linde Gang, Arthur Morgan/Original Female Character(s), Arthur Morgan/Reader, Arthur Morgan/Son
Comments: 7
Kudos: 89





	1. Joesph Morgan

Your son grew more to be like his father with every passing day. It wasn’t hard to see who’s child it was, his boy was just like him. 

Arthur and you had been together for a long time, ever since you two were bright-eyed teenagers with dumb aspirations in life. You had given birth at just sixteen, quite still a child yourself. Arthur, who was eight-teen, knew the consequences of unprotected sex as well as you did- you two did try your best to be careful, but alas you couldn’t help that it must’ve been fate. 

After you two had earned quite the scolding from Hosea and Dutch you had decided to keep the baby, neither of you being able to bear the thought of giving him up. After twelve years of being his parents, you two were forever grateful you kept him. 

Joseph Morgan had captured the heart of the camp. Everyone pitched in to help raise him given you two were still young and really had no idea what you were doing. Miss Grimshaw helped you immensely, you couldn’t help but feel she was your adoptive mother. When Joesph got around to talking he blessed Susan with the title of ‘Grama’ which she happily took - Hosea quickly turned into ‘Grampa’ as well. Dutch was fine with this, given he was younger and wasn’t sure about the title of Grandpa yet. 

As the camp grew, so did your son - quickly learning to follow his father around like a second shadow. Joseph learned from a young age that his dad’s activities were much more fun than yours. But that also meant that the level of danger of his father’s jobs was a hundred times more than anything you would be doing. Arthur would often hand you your son, giving you a peck on the lips before rushing off to do god knows what. Your son would fuss, he wanted to be with his dad where all the action and adventure was, not reading books or being stuck at camp. 

When he was younger he would cry for his father until he either ran out of tears or cried himself to sleep. It broke your heart but you knew that he was not going with Arthur if only he could understand that you two were protecting him. As he grew older he began to understand why he wasn’t allowed to tag along, Arthur obviously would not explain the gory details of the jobs he went on but he told Joesph he had to wait till he was big and strong enough to take down the bad guys. 

Some days Arthur would come back covered in blood and mud, bruised and scratched up. Joesph’s eyes would go wide as he watched his father this way, he was too young to understand, but he knew that it wasn’t right his father was showing up looking like this. 

Arthur would make up for this by taking his son fishing, doodling with him and teaching him the basic schooling Hosea had taught him. He knew one day he would have to teach his child to shoot, hunt and fend for himself in this cruel environment. But for now, he savoured the time he could simply read small picture books to his son or play with a ball. 

When Jack came around it gave Joesph another child to play with, of course, he was more than a few years older than Jack but he was willing to wait to play. 

Thinking back on these memories, it felt like eons ago. Your son was now freshly twelve, growing like a weed and a bit of a trouble maker. He would pull little pranks on different members of the group, nothing too harmful but he did like moving animals on Pearson to make him think he was going crazy. He was quick with a comeback, witty remarks were his weapon until he was able to get a real gun. 

He would still follow Arthur around like a lost puppy, gaining him the nickname Arthur Jr. by most of the gang, he didn’t get it. Arthur would keep him busy with little chores around the camp, making sure he wasn’t causing too much trouble. Hosea and Dutch also had a growing list of little jobs Joesph was able to do which made Joesph feel like this was one step closer to being able to go out with his father and the older men. He would have to wait a few years still, Hosea would often remind him. 

Joseph was a spitting image of his father. Dutch had pulled some dusty photos of out his chest one day, showing you what Arthur looked like around thirteen-fourteen, you had trouble telling him and Joesph apart. You hadn’t joined the gang till Arthur was seventeen, meaning you had no idea what he looked like as a child, but you could just look at Joesph and be reminded. 

He had the same dusty blonde locks, he was growing taller and taller by the day, puberty was bringing in his broad build slowly. The only difference was he had your brown eyes, which you were glad that a least a little part of you could show in him. 

**

“Do you ever take that shirt off?” John said to Joesph, eyeing the dirty blue shirt he always seemed to be in. 

Joseph looked over at him from the fire, raising an eyebrow at his uncle, “Do you ever mind your business?” Joseph smiled a shit-eating grin. 

John chuckled and shook his head, grabbing another small log and adding it to the freshly lit fire. The rest of the camp was getting ready to join the fire, cleaning up from dinner and settling into the camp for the night. 

Arthur walked over to the fire returning from running a few errands for Dutch. He smiled as he sat on a crate behind his son, who was on the dirt- typical. 

John nodded at Arthur, trying to contain the smirk on his face which raised Arthur’s curiosity. 

“What’cu smirkin at?” Arthur asked while flicking a match off his boot for his cigarette. 

“Your son, the little shit, just cracks me up,” John stated. 

Arthur looked at his son who wasn’t paying much attention to the conversation. Arthur poked his back with the tip of his boot. 

“Hey,” Arthur said, “what you do now?” 

Joseph turned his head and smiled at his father who had an eyebrow raised at him, Joseph shrugged, “Just asked if Uncle John ever minded his business, is all..” Joseph trailed off, shrugging his shoulders again. 

Arthur laughed and shook his head, giving John a smirk, “He never does, never did, son.” John just rolled his eyes and got up to go grab himself a beer.

Uncle and Bill made their way to the fire, bottles of whiskey in their arms. 

“We gonna party like it’s 1699, fellas!” Joseph said, Arthur face-palming behind him. 

“Whatever you say, kid” Bill chuckled as he leaned over to hand Arthur a bottle of whiskey. 

Joseph sat up straighter, scooting closer to his father’s boots. He looked up at Arthur, then eyed the bottle of whiskey in his hand. He had never tried whiskey, though a few times Reverend let him have a few sips of beer. Arthur knew this; he didn’t say much considering he wasn’t sure when he started to drink as a kid. Though you had a few words for Reverend, ‘you’re not gonna get my son drunk you fool’ you would say to him, shaking your finger at him. 

Joseph watched his father uncork the whiskey, taking a long swig as more people joined the fire. Arthur noticed his son looking up at him, he tilted his head.

“Hm?” he asked. Joseph rose to his feet and sat down on the empty crate beside his dad. 

“I’ve always looked up to you,” he said, Arthur caught his eye glancing at the bottle. He snorted as he put the bottle on the ground. 

“Good try buddy, yer mother would have my head,” Arthur laughed, patting his son’s shoulder lovingly. “You an me both know we’d both be sleepin outside if that happened.” He added. 

“If what happened?” your voice both made them jump slightly, had you heard that whole thing?

You stood behind them, your eyebrow raised and arms crossed over your chest. You were holding back a smile as best as you could, you knew they both liked to tease you. 

“Nothing Ma!” Joesph smiled at you, patting your arm softly before glancing at his dad for help. Arthur just shook his head softly and chuckled. 

“Mhmm” you moved to sit on Arthurs lap, there were a few spots around the fire but you enjoyed being close to him, even after all this time. 

He gladly wrapped his arms around your waist, holding you as you rested your head against his chest. You watched the roaring fire and listened to the different conversations being held. The bottle of whiskey being passed between you and Arthur. Jack and Joesph had gone off to play with the chickens, they liked to chase them around much to Susan’s scoldings. 

You looked over as you heard the two boys laughing, clearly enjoying themselves as they harassed the poor chickens. You couldn’t help but smile watching your boy, the apple of your eye. He reminded you so much of Arthur and you could only hope in years to come he would make someone as happy as Arthur made you. 

The two of you had talked about trying for another kid given you two were both still young. You were now only twenty-eight and Arthur had recently turned thirty. Joseph had made little comments about wanting a sibling, he wanted to have someone to be not only his friend but his own blood too. He didn’t care if he would be more than ten years older than them. 

There was no doubt Arthur and you made beautiful children, you were just not sure when the right time was if there ever was a right time. You glanced up at Arthur who was talking with Charles about hunting, nothing that really interested you. You studied his face as the glow of the fire heightened his beautiful features, the handsome cowboy that you got to call yours. You felt yourself smile as you felt your cheeks turning a bit hot, probably a mixture of the whiskey and Arthurs looks alone. 

You couldn’t help but lean up and kiss Arthurs stubbly cheek as you giggled. This caused Arthur to stop his conversation and look down at you, he smiled and chuckled softly, kissing your cheek back. It wasn’t too rude as Charles’s attention was taken away by Javier asking him something from across the fire. 

“Hi,” you said softly, smiling at Arthur. “Sorry I had to do that.” 

“Don’t gotta be sorry fer that.” he smiled, taking the bottle of whiskey from your hands and taking another swig. You think this was the third bottle you two had shared tonight - you felt it more than him, being much smaller. 

“I think we should have another,” you blurted out, mentally cursing the whiskey. 

Arthur raised his eyebrows, tilting his head slightly at you. “Another bottle? I don’t think ya need it, darlin.” he chuckled.

You frowned and shook your head, furrowing your eyebrows slightly. “No, silly! A kid..” 

His expression changed, not into a bad one- he was more pleasantly surprised. He nodded in agreement with you. 

“We can always try,” he said softly, a small smirk crawling on his face. You giggled and nodded. 

He thought for a moment and bit the inside of his lip. “I’ll go to town tomorrow and get another tent.” 

You were confused, another tent? He noticed the confusion on your face. 

“A tent for Joesph, ya know, so we can have alone time.” he raised an eyebrow, hoping you’d get the hint. 

“O!” you laughed, you got it now. “Yeah, good idea cowboy.” you grinned at him. 

This all depended on if Arthur’s head would let him go into town tomorrow as you watched him chug down more dark whiskey. Hangovers were not his strong suit, you weren’t even sure if he had fully recovered from the night he had with Lenny a few weeks ago.


	2. Cattle Call Rondolet

Arthur was awoken to the sound of his son humming along to the music of Dutches classicals outside. He groaned softly, resting his pounding head in his hands as he tried to wipe the sleep off his face. You had long got up and were onto the washing clothes before Miss Grimshaw could bark something at you for doing ‘nothing’. 

Arthur tried to ignore his head as he stretched, swinging his legs off the cot before finding his boots he had clearly just thrown in the tent the night before. He grabbed his pocket watch off the bedside table, did he sleep in? Not too bad, it was nine in the morning- he was usually up earlier but the whiskey hushed him back to sleep this morning. 

“Mornin’ Dad,” Joseph said, laying on his own cot as he scribbled in his leather-bound journal. “What are we doin’ today?” he asked, hoping to get out of the camp for an adventure with his father. 

Arthur grunted softly, getting up to put on his signature gunslinger jacket- he had slept in his clothes, too drunk to care. He shrugged softly, looking at his son who was still focused on the drawing in front of him. 

“Coffee is the first thing,” he rubbed his neck, he softly kicked the wooden leg of his son’s cot, earning Joesph to look at him from his journal. “Ya comin?” Arthur smiled as he went to exit the tent. 

Joseph quickly closed his journal and jumped off the cot as he followed his father who was walking towards the coffee brewing over one of the fires. Arthur had his tin mug in his hand as he knelt down to pour the coffee strong enough to kick a horse into his mug. 

“You eat?” Arthur asked as he stood up blowing lightly on his coffee, Joseph shook his head as he rocked on his heels. Arthur furrowed his eyebrows lightly, nodding towards Pearsons’ wagon. “Grab something, eat before yer mother scolds ya.” 

Off Joesph went, being stopped momentarily to talk to Hosea, or Gramps as he liked to call him now. Arthur nursed his coffee as he stood in front of the fire, hoping the caffeine would hush his headache. 

“You goin into town today?” Karen asked as she came to the fire, getting her own mug of coffee. 

Arthur nodded, raising a slight eyebrow at her, “Whatcha need?” 

Karen sipped her coffee before speaking, “We’re gonna need more thread, you boys keep putting holes in yer clothes and it’s burnin’ a hole in our thread!” 

Arthur nodded, mentally creating a list of supplies in his head. “That all?” 

Karen nodded before walking away, “better ask around before ya go though!” she called out to him. 

The cowboy nodded as he downed the remainder of the coffee. Over the next few minutes, he went around camp asking for supplies anyone needed, slowly adding to his list. When he was sure he had asked everyone he wanted to, except for you. He found you over the washtub, elbow deep in rose-coloured water. 

“You need somethin from town, darlin?” he asked, coming behind you and wrapping his arms around your middle, kissing the top of your head. He was quite a bit taller than you, well, than everyone really. You weren’t quite sure how tall but you were sure it was well over six feet. Maybe six-four?

You leaned back into him, still scrubbing lightly at the shirt under the water. “Just that tent you talked about last night.” you smirked softly. 

He nodded softly and chuckled, watching you scrub the shirt- the water turning a darker red the more you moved the fabric around. He was sure it was one of his shirts, considering the amount of blood coming out of it. 

“I think I’ll take Joesph wit me, he seems to be itchin’ to get out,” he said, glancing over at his son who was kicking around a rock, clearly bored. 

You joined in at looking at your son, you did feel bad that for some days on end he would be stuck here. He did find ways to entertain himself, but no doubt he wanted to be out of the camp more than he was. 

“Just be careful,” you said softly as you returned your attention to the wash, you felt Arthur’s arms squeeze you lightly which caused you to giggle. 

“I’m always careful, baby.” he chuckled and planted a kiss on your shoulder. 

You could feel your eyes roll as you turned around and flicked some water at Arthur, “yeah, tell me another joke.” you giggled. 

Arthur put his hands on his belt, a common habit of his and raised his eyebrow at you. “Ya callin’ me a liar?” he smirked. 

“Ain’t callin’ you a truther,” you returned the smirk to him, almost mocking him. 

“Riiight.” he drawled out. Boy that drawl, you could never get enough. 

You were going to flick some more water at him before your son joined the scene, coming over to hug you lightly as he said good morning. 

You gladly returned the hug, pulling him into your side as you smiled. “Good mornin, my handsome boy. Ya get something to eat?” He nodded, giving a look to his dad that said ‘thank you’. Arthur just smirked and nodded his head. 

“We’re going to town,” Arthur said to Joesph, “Yer Mother said it’s okay.” 

Joseph gleamed up at you, clearly thankful that you were letting him out with his father. You kissed his forehead before letting him off your side, gently nudging him toward Arthur. 

“Just hurry back you two,” you said as Joesph began to jog towards the horses. Arthur came to you and gave you a kiss before following his son. You smiled as you watched them before turning back to the wash. 

Joseph hurried towards Arthurs shire who was grazing on the tall grass outside of camp. The shire was black with a patch of white on his forehead. Originally Hosea had told Arthur to sell the horse, thinking he was too heavy for handling but Arthur opted to keep him as they bonded quickly. 

“Hey boy!” Joseph smiled as he gently patted the Shires nose, earning a loving huff from the horse- called Ghost. 

Arthur was quick behind him, grabbing his saddle off one of the horse hitches and began to settle it on Ghost. He gave the shire a few brushes before turning to Joesph, prompting him to come over so he could lift him on the horse. 

Joseph had a horse, who was smaller and much more docile than Ghost. But Arthur thought it was easier to go into town with both of them on one horse, making it a quicker journey. 

He lifted his son onto the saddle, smiling at him before jumping onto Ghost himself. He pulled on the reins which prompted Ghost to huff louder and make his way out of camp. 

They made their way into Valentine, Arthur letting his son take the reins as long as he promised not to try to race anyone. He usually would be up for that but his head couldn’t take all that adrenaline today. Joseph was careful to remember what Arthur had taught him about handling heavier horses, his hands held onto the leather reins tightly. 

When they got to the general store Arthur quickly jumped off Ghost to hitch him so he didn’t run off with Joesph still on his back. He lifted Joesph off, usually, he liked to jump down but the ground beneath them was muddy and Arthur wasn’t going to let him slip. 

They made their way around the store collecting the items needed while the store owner told them some random tidbits of information that made Joesph roll his eyes at Arthur, Arthur chuckling. Arthur had asked about tent canvases, the shopkeeper telling him they were out back and he was able to grab one on the way out. Arthur was slightly surprised the keeper trusted him to simply take a canvas without stealing more than he needed. Maybe Arthur looked more trustworthy when he had his son with him? He wasn’t going to break the shopkeeper’s trust though, besides why would he want to carry more than one tent canvas around? 

Arthur paid and thanked the man, handing Joesph a few things to carry so he could get the canvas. Once everything was accounted for they put items in the black saddlebag, Arthur rolling up the canvas and secured it on the back of the saddle. Usually, both the boys would wander around the town and find little things to do before going back to the camp, but it was deathly hot out today and the sun didn’t seem like it was going to let up anytime soon. 

They headed back, letting Ghost just trot along- Arthur didn’t want him to overheat as much as they wanted to return fast. Ghost decided to trot through a clearing, scattered with trees and a small creek, the boys didn’t mind as it gave them some shade. 

In front of them, they could see a herd of cattle, not too big but enough that it caught their attention. There was only one herdsman, sitting on his morgan who was taking a drink from the creek. The man looked old, sickly from something and was no doubt sunburnt. As they got closer, they caught the attention of the man. 

“Hey fellers,” he spoke out, waving his hand slightly- Arthur noticed he was a bit shaky. His own hand moving toward his gun belt, he didn’t think the man was going to try anything but it was more out of habit. 

“I like your cows!” Joseph stated to the man, smiling at him before turning his attention to look at the herd. 

The man laughed softly and looked at Arthur, who was watching him intently. “This yer son?” he asked, trying to bring up polite conversation. 

Arthur nodded, smiling softly as he moved his hand away from his gunbelt. “Both blessed and cursed,” Arthur said teasingly as Joesph turned his head to shoot him a look. 

“Well say, if you two do me a favour I’m sure I could return it,” the man said. 

Arthur raised his eyebrow, curious. The man noted this. 

“As you can see there’s only one of me and more than a few of those cows... Could you help me herd them back to my sted? It’s not far at all, but harder when it’s just me trying to get them back.” 

Arthur nodded softly, obviously in thought- it was hot and he wanted to get back. But, on the other hand, the man looked like he had seen better days and Arthur felt a tad bit sorry for him. 

“I’ll give you one of the cow’s, as a thank you.” the man said as he smiled. 

Arthur couldn’t say no to that, they could use that cow back at the camp for milk and meat when the time came. It would be a big win in his books. 

“Sure,” Arthur smiled at the man, reining Ghost to move beside the man’s morgan. Joseph was sweating but he wouldn’t say no at the chance of having a cow. They were cool animals, maybe he could learn how to milk one. 

The man lightly kicked his heels into the morgan, making it neigh loudly as he moved towards the small herd of grazing cattle. Arthur followed behind, waiting for the man to give him some sort of instruction. 

“If you go on the right side we can move them closer together, making it easier for us to get them all back, feel free to shout at them to keep them moving.” the man said as he moved his horse towards the left side, whistling at the cattle. 

Arthur directed Ghost to the opposite side as Joesph whooped at the cattle to get a move on. They complied and began trotting forward, moo-ing as they would bump into each other. Arthur laughed at the sight, poor cows didn’t have more than two thoughts behind those eyes. 

Joseph whistled to get the cattle to pick up the pace, Arthur found it amusing to see his son taking the role of an honourary herdsman. 

“Maybe you should raise cattle when yer older, hm?” Arthur said, chuckling softly. 

Joseph scoffed, not entertained by that idea. “Cattle ain’t adventurous, Dad,” Joseph shook his head, watching the cattle moving forward.

“Livestock is good money son, I ain’t much of a farmer but you could be.” 

“I’m gonna be like you, become a gunslinger.” Joseph turned his head to glance back at his father, a wide grin on his face. “Cattle callin’ ain’t as cool as that!” he added. 

Arthur just chuckled softly as they neared the fences of the farmstead, the man slowly jumped off his morgan and began to flush them into the pasture. Arthur jumped down swiftly to help him, patting the cows on their backs to move them into the fenced area. 

The man smiled as the last few neared the entrance, he walked over slowly to his horse to grab a ring of rope, coming back and tying it loosely around one of the cow’s neck. “Here, this one is a keeper,” he said as he handed Arthur the rope. Arthur took it and looked at the cow, who didn’t seem to mind what was happening- it just slowly chewed its cud, looking back at him. 

“Thank ya for yer help,” the man said, “it wasn’t much but believe me when I tell ya it helped me a lot, mister.” he had a thankful look on his face. 

Arthur patted the man’s shoulder gently before leading the cow to Ghost, tying the rope to the saddle so the cow could follow. 

“Thank you for the cow,” Arthur said, nodding at the man before jumping back on his Shire. The man waved at Arthur and Joesph before closing the fence behind him and the cows. Quickly getting back to his chores. 

Joseph held onto Ghost’s reins as he clapped them lightly, turning Ghost around in the direction of the camp. 

“What should we name the cow?” Joseph asked his father. 

“Up to you,” Arthur shrugged, he wasn’t planning on becoming attached to it anyway. 

“We could name it Uncle... Kinda smells like him too.” Joseph said, shrugging his shoulders. Unaware of how funny this joke was. 

Arthur snorted and nodded his head, obvious pride washing over him. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, so they say. 

“Aight, let’s get Uncle home then,” he said, patting his son’s shoulder prompting him to make Ghost trot a bit faster. “Uncle can meet Uncle.” both he and Joesph laughed. 

They weren’t sure if Uncle would like this nickname, it was kind of an insult to the cow.


	3. To Catch An Outlaw

‘I’m probably gonna burn for this, ain’t no lesson to learn from this, there’s nothing imma earn but it sure is fun.’

That was Arthur’s motto when killing. He was a tough, towering guy that could make statues cry, everyone knew he was not a man you wanted to get on the wrong side of. Although his whole persona changed when he was around his family, you saw things that people wouldn’t believe- Arthur could be quite the clown. 

Another bounty hunter dropped from their horse, lifeless and pooling out blood as red as roses. They knew it was dangerous to bounty hunt, especially going after Arthur Morgan- they knew what they were risking. Sometimes a large sum of money is worth risking your life for, Arthur knew that feeling well himself. 

He wasn’t sure if there had been talking of him and the gang lingering around town, but someone caught wind that the Van Der Linde gang was around, meaning money was lingering over bounty hunter’s heads. It had been a few days since Arthur and his son went to Valentine, maybe someone saw his face around there and decided to talk? Whatever happened, they had been chasing him all day. 

Arthur was smarter than to lead them in the direction of the camp, he knew that’s more than likely where they wanted him to go. Instead, he led them up near Fort Wallace hoping they’d think the gang was hidden there instead of the overlook. 

Ghost was attempting to catch his breath, his nostrils flaring as his large muscles contracted from all the running he had been doing. Arthur took them into a densely wooded area, at this point, it was a game of manhunt- and Arthur was winning. He had lost them far off, but he wasn’t going to risk getting seen again. He decided to wait until dusk to head back towards the camp. 

He sighed as he got off his shire, patting his nose before reaching in the saddlebag to grab a few oatcakes- feeding them to Ghost. He gladly bobbed his head as a thank you. Arthur smiled and hitched him to a tree, looking around to make sure he was alone. 

“Catch yer breath, boy.” Arthur brushed through Ghosts raven black mane, working gently at the knots before giving him a few loving pats. “You’ve done well.” 

He sat down with his back against the tree, now focusing on calming himself before waiting for the sun to fall in the sky. He examined himself, a slug had grazed his forearm- it wasn’t too bad but still nicked off the skin. He untied his bandana from off his neck and wrapped it tightly around his arm, it barely tied around his large arm but he made it work. He sighed again, taking his hat off and running his hand through his blonde hair. He was glad he went to the barber before all of this ensued, at least his clean-cut kept him from sweating more than he needed to. 

There was a crackling of branches a few feet behind him, his heart raced as he swiftly pulled the revolver out of his gunbelt. Quickly peering from behind the tree, he prepared himself for a shootout- only… it was a fox. He let out a sigh of relief, putting his hand over his chest for a moment. 

“Jesus,” he mumbled, “get lost.” he said towards the fox, picking up a stick and throwing it in the animal’s direction spooking it off. 

He leaned back against the tree, looking up at Ghost who was currently sniffing the bark of the tree. He was a large, beautiful creature who would follow him around if he didn’t hitch him correctly. Reminded Arthur of Joesph, his second shadow. He smiled to himself, the thought of his son always bringing joy to any situation. That is why he fought so hard against any bounty hunters, lawmen or threatening civilians- because he had his family to return to. Nobody was going to catch him, nobody how much they wanted to catch the outlaw. 

He would fight even harder now that you had mentioned the thought of another child, he wanted another and he ached to grow old with you. He didn’t care how many people he had to put in the ground to make that happen, to him it was all for a good cause. 

All these thoughts prompted him to pull out his journal, write whatever he was thinking and keep it in his memory. He wrote of the bounty hunters and where he thinks they may have come from, who sent them and how much the bounty on his head actually was. He knew it was a good amount of dough, but how much exactly that all these men were willing to come after him? Was he able to turn himself in and reap the reward? Doubtful but he liked the idea. 

Arthur found it odd how calm he was now, just sitting against the tree and admired the different flora and fauna that were around him. He didn’t get much time to just sit like this, even if it was hiding from bounty hunters, it was oddly charming. 

He noted how the sun was beginning to set as he rose from his spot in the grass, unhitching the reins before giving Ghost a few strokes on his nose, swiftly putting his foot in the stirrup to mount the shire. 

“Let's try to be quiet,” he whispered to Ghost, who softly huffed in return. Ghost began to walk slowly towards the clearing of the woods, Arthur guiding him away from any branches that would make too much noise. He looked around the clearing but nobody seemed to be near, Arthur wasn’t willing to risk it- he sat at the opening for a minute before clapping Ghosts reins, lunging him into a run. 

Arthur pulled his bow off of his back, he thought that if need be he could take anyone out quietly- gunshots would draw too much attention. He held it tightly in his hand as Ghost huffed loudly, his giant hooves thundering on the ground beneath them. 

It wasn’t a far ride when you were going full speed, much to Arthurs delight considering he didn’t want to spend more time out in the open than needed. The setting sun helped the situation, it was much harder to hunt in the dark and Ghost's black coat made for better camouflage. 

The pair were minutes away from camp taking a shortcut under the bridge with the train tracks, just making it towards the bottom of the small hill when Arthur heard the cocking of a gun. He slowed Ghost down, drawing his arrow back he turned his body around to look where the noise came from. Two men, bandanas covering their faces stared back at him, only they weren’t bounty hunters- they were O’driscolls, even with half their face covered he recognized their ugly mugs. He turned Ghost around fully so he was able to face them head-on. 

“May I help you, boys?” Arthur asked, clearly unamused with whatever stunt they were attempting to pull. 

“Where’s Dutch?!” The taller man sneered. 

Arthur raised his eyebrow at the men, not letting go of the position on his bow. 

“Who’s askin?” he sneered back, moving the bow from one man to the other. 

“Colm wants to speak to him, take us to him an nobody dies!” the same man said, stepping closer to Arthur, Ghost towering over the man, giving him a warning as he hoofed at the ground. 

“I dunno where he is.” Arthur shrugged.

“We know you know, pretty boy!” 

Arthur chuckled, shaking his head as he moved his bow down, resting it on his lap. These boys were all talk. 

“Firstly, thank you,” Arthur said, clearly teasing the man who called him pretty. “But I ain’t helping you no matter how much ya compliment me.” 

The taller man rushed towards the front of Arthur but clearly understimulated the horse he was upon. Ghost's leg struck forward faster than Arthur could register, a loud whinny coming from his chest. He knocked the man square in the forehead, he was on the ground and cold instantly- Arthur raised his eyebrows in surprise at what had just occurred. 

“Shit! Shit!” The remaining O’driscoll turned on his heels and ran, making him a clear and easy target for Arthurs arrow. He soon too was on the ground. 

Arthur looked down from his saddle at the man on the ground, a clear hoofprint quickly marking on his head. Arthur couldn’t help but let out a laugh as he leaned down to rub Ghost's mane. 

“What a good boy!” Arthur chuckled, shaking his head in almost disbelief. “Didn’t know you were a killing machine,” he smirked as he gave Ghost another oatcake. 

With that event over, he kicked his heels into the black shire once again, returning to the camp in a short amount of time. He made sure to give Ghost a few extra brushes before leaving him to graze with the rest of the horses. 

“You'll never guess what happened,” he said to you once he spotted you sitting at one of the tables, reading a book. 

You looked up at him, raising your eyebrows in curiosity, “Hm?” 

“That damn horse killed a man!” he exclaimed, clearly excited about what he had just seen. 

“What? Who? Your horse?” You were confused, closing your book and setting it down in front of you. 

“Some O’Driscoll boy, kicked him square in the face an’ down he went.” Arthur was laughing, you shook your head as you looked at him. 

“Huh… well let’s hope he can do it again!” you giggled softly, crossing your arms on your chest lightly. 

“To who? Why?” 

“Oh just stupid ol’ Micah, being… well, Micah.” you said, mentally recounting the comments he had made to you today. Something about your buttons on your dress being undone and if you wanted he’d help you undo the rest in his tent. He loved making these comments, he loved to get Arthur riled up. 

“What he do?” Arthur furrowed his eyebrows, eyes scanning around for Micah. 

You stood up, taking Arthurs hands in yours as you shook your head lightly. “Nothing, I handled it myself. Don’t worry hun’.” you smiled at him, moving closer as you hugged him tightly. 

He hugged you back, squeezing you in return as you giggled. When you pulled away from him you noticed the bandana on his arm, what happened? He noticed and began to untie the piece of fabric. 

“Just a little graze,” he said taking the fabric off before wiping away some of the dried blood around the area. “Bounty hunters is all.” 

You frowned, taking the bandana and setting it on the table as you took his arm to examine his small wound. It was just a graze, nothing he couldn’t handle, a graze from a bullet was nothing to Arthur. You sighed softly before hugging him again, craning your head up to look at his face. 

“Well, sounds like you had a busy day. Want a beer?” you smiled at him, earning a deep chuckle from his chest as he shook his head softly. 

“Mm, we haven’t put our empty tent to use yet,” he smirked at you. “Wanna join me for a beer...alone, in the tent?” he winked at you. 

You rolled your eyes and giggled, lightly smacking his chest playfully. “I somehow don’t think there’s any beer in there, but I will gladly join you for other activities.” 

He grinned and picked you up bridal style, walking you towards your shared tent. You wrapped your arms around his neck before leaning to kiss his cheek. 

“Those bounty hunters must suck,” you said, “it’s not that hard to catch an outlaw. Look at me, I have one.” you giggled, kissing his cheek again. 

He chuckled as he entered the tent, lightly tossing you on the cot before crawling on top of you, hovering over you with his hands resting beside your head. 

“I willingly went wit you, missy.” he chuckled, kissing your lips before trailing down to your neck. 

“Sad I didn’t get the reward money for it,” you giggled, moving your head back to expose more skin. 

Arthur chuckled against your skin before nipping at your neck lightly. “Oh be quiet.” he teased. 

“Make me.” you giggled, knowing he’d take you up on that offer quickly. 

And that he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> For all you smutty smut's out there, don't worry this story will have smutty smuts not just suggestive.   
> Just a PSA, chapters may come quick (sometimes) I have a bit of free time and not much to do other than my studies and work. Also, I am blessed that writing comes pretty easy to me (maybe not good writing? but writing nonetheless). So when I get going I can't stop, just a heads-up if you see chapters coming pretty fast.   
> Let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks! :') ily


	4. Stubborn Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter travels back to when Arthur and the reader are teenagers, finding out about the pregnancy! Enjoy.

You couldn’t help but stare whenever his presence graced the camp. The young stud mastered at smooth-talking and devilishly handsome, he was too delicious you couldn’t help but gawk. 

There was no doubt you two were meant for each other it was painfully obvious to everyone who witnessed your interactions or listened to your shared conversations. 

He would leave gifts by your cot before sneaking off on another job with Dutch. Flowers with different shades of your favourite colours, dark red crisp apples, personal writings from his journal. You kept all these treasures in a chest under your cot, even the flowers that would no doubt crisp up and die, but they were still beautiful in their own macabre way. 

You had never experienced these feelings before, it was like you found God in this young man. He did things to you that you didn’t understand, mentally and physically. You two were both teenagers in love, you both knew that love was a complicated word and an even more complicated emotion but somehow it made sense when you were together. 

What you felt was incomplete in yourself he filled those missing pieces without hesitation. You made his walls crumble quicker than he thought was possible. 

You two would go on different adventures together, you’d tag along when he wanted to go hunt small game or fish. He had taught you to use a bow, which you had become quite good at- that now being your weapon of choice. You taught him different games you had created while stuck at camp doing chores, somehow he thought you’d always add new rules every time you two played. But he let you win without hesitation. 

Countless conversations and laughs were shared in your tents, all hours of the day and night. At first Dutch, Hosea, Bessie and Susan were hesitant, but they eventually let you two move your tents together, knowing you two would just sneak around anyway. This was more than likely the step that led to you getting pregnant at sixteen. You had sworn you were careful, but you knew that even carefulness couldn’t stop pregnancy from happening. ‘The only way to avoid it is to not do it at all!” Susan would tell you, trying to implant that in your brain. Well, guess it didn’t work. 

You sat on your cot with your head in your hands, elbows pressing into your knees. Arthur paced around the tent, scanning the ground trying to conjure up a plan. 

“I swear I always pulled out…” he mumbled, trying to think of a time he didn’t. 

“They’re gonna kill us.” you groaned, not moving your head from your hands. You couldn’t bear to look at Arthur right now, you didn’t even know exactly what he was feeling. 

He signed softly as he sat beside you on the cot, wrapping an arm around you moving you to his side. His leg bounced up and down, clearly anxious. You couldn’t blame him. 

“I- it’s going to be okay,” he said softly, rubbing your arm, “whatever happens I’m not leaving you, Y/N.”   
You sniffled softly as your eyes began to sting harshly, Arthur continued to rub your arm gently. 

“I don’t know how to raise a kid, Arthur…. We’re still kids.” You mumbled. “How are we going to do this?!” 

Arthur shook his head softly, biting his lip as he thought. His heart hurt, he didn’t want you to be afraid or regret being with him. 

“We have help. We have the camp… we won’t be completely alone. They’ll be disappointed in us but there are worse things we could do.” he kissed your head, squeezing your arm softly. 

You couldn’t help but let a small smile escape. You weren’t sure how he always knew what to say to help you but it was most certainly his superpower. 

“I love you.” you said as you moved your head from your hands, looking at him with tears gently flowing from your brown eyes. 

He had a caring look on his face, it calmed you, this man was your saving grace. 

“I love you too, Y/N. It’s gonna work out, I know it will.” he smiled, looking at you as he wiped your tears off your cheeks. 

You nodded leaning over to peck his lips gently, he smiled against your lips before pulling you into his lap. 

“You’ll be a great mom, don’t doubt that for a second,” he rocked you gently, “and I will always be here.”

“I sure hope so.” you sniffled again, wiping your eyes with the sleeve of your dress. 

“Whatever mess you get into, it’s my mess too.” he chuckled softly, kissing your forehead. 

You smiled nuzzling into his broad chest, he was warm and you wanted to stay here till the morning. But you knew you had to break the news to the others, no matter how scary it was. 

“We gotta tell them…” you mumbled, hiding your face in his shirt. 

“I know, we will. Sooner the better, baby.” he sighed softly, patting your back prompting you to get off his lap. 

You groaned as you stood up, your legs felt like jello. You didn’t want to leave the tent. God forbid you left the tent. 

Arthur stood up behind you, taking your hand in his as he basically pulled you along out of the tent. You whined softly behind him, shaking your head, looking like a kicked puppy. You knew he didn’t want to do this either but you couldn’t help but protest it. You could already hear the scolding you two were going to receive. Luck be on your side tonight. 

You tugged back on his arm, basically digging your heels into the grass. Arthur sighed and stopped walking, looking back at you and chuckled softly. 

“C’mon, Y/N, yer making it harder on yourself…” he said. You knew he was right. 

You groaned as you began to walk again, it’ll be easier once it’s off your chest and you can go back to sulk in your tent for the night. 

They took it about as well as you thought they would. The scoldings commenced right after, Arthur and you looking down at the ground as they shook their fingers at you. They had told you to be careful. 

“You two have a lot of growing up to do in the next nine months,” Susan said, looking at the both of you as she shook her head lightly. 

After they had gotten their disappointment out you had left back to the tent, groaning as you kicked off your boots and crawling under the pelts on your cot. Arthur joined you after a few minutes, standing by the cot as he sighed softly and lit a cigarette. You hid your head under the blankets, not knowing what to do next. Sleep or cry? 

“Do you regret it?” you asked, barely audible from under the blanket. 

“What?” Arthur asked, sitting down on a chair in the tent, the wood creaking as he leaned back slightly. 

“The night we met. If you knew this would be where we are now. Do you regret the night meeting me at camp?” you sniffled, eyes burning again.

He raised his eyebrows, shaking his head as he stood up and came to kneel beside the cot moving the blanket from off your head. 

“No. I don’t regret anything, Y/N. Regret never crossed my mind.” he said softly, a pained look on his face - clearly sad that you even would ask that question. 

“What if it’s a mistake?” you whispered, tears beginning to flow again. 

Arthur moved to lay beside you, wrapping his arms around you in a bear hug, shaking his head. “It’s no mistake. It’s ours. Even if it was a mistake it’s our mistake. There was no mistake in meeting you, baby.” 

You cried into his chest once again, not even sure what emotion you were feeling. Arthur just rubbed your back and petted your hair, not sure what to do he just let you cry whatever emotions out. 

“It’s better to feel all the emotions than nothing at all,” he whispered in your ear. “I don’t blame you for crying. Let it out.” 

You cried yourself to sleep while Arthur stayed by your side, not once moving. He fell asleep not long after you, he could only keep his head up for you, making sure you knew he wasn’t going anywhere. 

Sometimes you two were stubborn together, your love was stubborn, but that wasn’t going to stop him from making sure he could do all he can to help you and show you he loved you unconditionally. Now more than ever.


	5. I Wan'na Be Like You

Joseph Arthur Morgan was a child with quite the imagination, his countless hours spent around the camp full of different daydreams and aspirations. Reading the tales of gunslingers and cowboys of the wild west only grew his determination to follow his father’s footsteps. The larger than life presence of the tough lasso carrying cowboys in his stories fondly reminded him of his dad. He didn’t know the in’s and out’s of exactly what Arthur’s jobs included but he knew that people knew not to mess with his father. Any young boy would have admiration for someone with that kind of power. 

He liked watching his father return to camp on his black shire, guns and bows strapped to all parts of his body. Arthur seemed to lift anything, animal or person, without struggle- was his father some type of mutant God? Do only cowboys get that kind of strength. He had read stories about knights as well, couldn’t help but imagine his father being the noble knight who would finally slay the daunting dragon that kept the princess hostage. His mother was definitely a princess, with beautiful locks of hair that shone like gold in the hot morning sun. Though he wasn’t sure that she would be a damsel in distress, she was tranquil but knew how to handle herself when needed. Sometimes he heard his father call his mother, ‘princess’, had he been reading those knight books as well? 

Although, sometimes he wasn’t sure how his parents had gotten together. His mother was much calmer, she would think something long over before doing it. She was smart and could definitely make a grown man cry with the glare she delivered when she was upset. How could someone so calm and analytical end up with someone so loud and tough? He knew they loved each other deeply, even he could see the flame of admiration in their eyes when they exchanged glances. They were made for each other but just seemed so different at times

He had heard different tidbits of stories that included his father fighting men twice the size of him- and winning! Joseph couldn’t imagine a man taller than his father, that image alone is impressive. Tales of Arthur heightening his honour, capturing the ugly men who would do indescribable things to people. He knew his father had also done some things that he wasn’t proud of, but Joesph had learnt throughout different members of the group that some people deserve what comes to them. 

Arthur was the light of Joseph’s life, he would hang onto every word of advice Arthur would teach him. 

Joseph dreamed he would grow to find a partner who he could make as happy as his father made his mother. Although he was young, he knew that love and family were two things he wanted in life. He was born into the gang, which grew with every passing year - he knew family and loyalty was everything. Arthur made sure to pound that into his head. 

Growing up to be a rifle toating cowboy who would bend the rules for the good of his family was the young boy’s ideal image of his future. Even when Arthur told him that it’s not all it lives up to like it does in the storybooks. ‘The way of cowboys is slowly approaching its end, buddy”, Arthur would tell him. 

“I wanna be like you!” he would tell his father, earning a chuckle as if he was telling a joke. 

Arthur wanted the best for his son which he didn’t think was going to happen if his son decided to be just like him. He had changed his ways over the years, but that didn’t mean that the jobs he would go on were exactly pure. But, alas, Dutch always had a plan… or so he said. Arthur didn’t want his son to grow up to rob stagecoaches, there were more honest ways of making money now. He hoped as his son grew he would come to understand this. Even if Arthur wasn’t always an honest man, his son could learn to be one. He hoped that when the shadows of his life had gone that he could come back as a bird or something of that nature so that he could keep an eye on his son. 

Maybe coming down to dive at his head if he did something against Arthurs teachings. That could be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this is a shorter chapter, I just thought this would be a cute part to add to the story!   
> Also pls imagine Arthur as a bird dive-bombing at his son's head, ahahah.


	6. Bottom Of The River

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!   
> Just a warning of minor violence, nothing too bad.   
> Thanks for reading!

It was a pleasant afternoon the sun was hot but the cool breeze would bring comfort when needed. Things at the overlook were calm, not much activity for a few days meant that there was more time to focus on things like hunting, updating items in the camp, and a few days of relaxation to those who needed it most. 

With not much else to do Joesph and Jack were granted permission to fish and skip rocks near the river, as long as they had promised to stay out of trouble. The river was not far from camp, meaning it was easy to go and check on them when needed. A small hill mossy hill leading down to the bottom of the river. Easy for the young boys to practice their fishing. 

Arthur had decided it was alright for the two boys to go alone, besides nothing had been happening for a few days, meaning he wasn’t too worried about them running into anyone they shouldn’t. They knew the trail back to camp if heaven forbid anything were to happen. 

Arthur was in no rush to do anything today surprisingly he was quite content with staying in camp and organizing his ammo stash or playing a few games of poker or dominos. He had learnt years ago that you felt much better when you knew he was in the camp and not out somewhere getting shot at. Putting your mind at ease made him feel better, and knew it would keep you in a good mood as well. 

Down at the river, the two boys sat on large boulders, lazily casting their lines out and learning that fishing really was about patience. While they waited for their lines to get a tug they would entertain themselves by watching the frogs hop along or quietly watch the deer that would come by for a drink. 

Joseph sighed as he bobbed his line, a trick he had learnt from his father to get the attention of the fish. They didn’t seem interested in the corn bait he currently had equipped to his hook. He knew that fish liked worms, but there were no worms at camp. He thought for a moment before hopping down off the boulder and hiked his sleeves up his arms, kneeling down to cup piles of dirt out of the ground. 

“What are you doing?” Jack asked, still sitting on his rock with his line cast out. 

“Trying to find worms, might be better bait.” Joseph shrugged his shoulders as he moved around the dirt, trying to eye any worms he may see. 

Jack nodded, he was more than content to watch the river's movement and the nature around them. He didn’t feel like digging in the dirt and if Joesph was willing to do it then he had no complaints. 

Joseph spotted a robin a few feet away, worm violently wiggling between its beak. He slowly stood up, moving his feet swiftly through the moss as he lunged at the bird, scaring it off with the worm still in its mouth. He huffed as he watches the bird hopping a few feet down the river, if he could follow it he could get the worm- it looked like a big fat one too, good for fishing. 

Jack watched as Joesph slowly followed the robin down the bank of the river, snapping his fingers trying to get the bird to drop his meal. Neither boy noticed the two men across the riverbank, nesting between thick layers of tall grass and few trees. 

The two men were after the bounty, more specifically Arthur and Dutches hefty prices. They had gotten a tip from a local trapper that men who looked like those on the posters were held up somewhere this way. They had heard the commotion of the two boys laughing and curiosity got the best of them. Finding the two boys was to their advantage. They knew Arthur had a son and were hoping the boy could unknowingly lead them to his father. 

“That's definitely Morgan's kid, look.” the one man pointed as he whispered to his partner. “Looks just like him.” 

“Well who’s the other kid?” the younger man asked.

“Hell if I know, and who cares?! We use the kid to get to our bounty.” he snickered, a smug look on his face.

The younger man nodded, deciding they should get a better look he crouched down to move closer to the river, making sure the boys didn’t leave on them. Being younger and inexperienced it wasn’t quick before the sounds of breaking sticks, rocks moving and the ground moving from under his feet caught the boy's attention.

Joseph stood up, moving his attention from the bird to the two men now closer to them. He furrowed his eyebrows as he slowly took a step backwards. 

“Who are you?” Joseph asked, he had learnt from his father to not trust strangers. Especially two men walking out of the woods.

“None of yer business, kid.” the older man said, sneering at him. “You Arthur Morgans boy?” he asked as he took a step closer, boot entering the shallow water of the river. 

Joseph didn’t answer instead he glanced over at Jack who was now standing clutching his fishing rod in his fists. 

“Answer the question.” the younger man said, stepping forward through the water, grabbing Joesph's arm. 

Joseph shook his head, eyes shooting down at the man's hand on his arm, gritting his teeth. 

“I ain’t gonna ask again boy,” the older man growled, “who’s yer daddy?” 

Joesph shook his head again, “No.” 

The grip on his arm tightening making his jaw clench. 

“No what? Be better for ya if you don’t lie.” the young man squinted his eyes at Joesph, examining his face. 

“Ya look a lot like yer daddy, kid. An’ he got a nice price on his head, as well as your uncle Dutch,” the man smirked.

“Take us to them, son. Ain’t nobody gotta get hurt.” the older man spoke up, stepping beside his partner. 

Joseph shook his head, tugging his arm back harshly, teeth gritted. “Let me go!” he shouted, attempting to get out of the grip.

“Yer daddy is comin’ wit us kid, better not fight.” the man tugged on his arm, moving him closer. 

Joesphs eyebrows furrowed, he glanced at Jack once again who had the same idea. He was slowly moving back towards the path that leads back to camp. The men’s focus was on Joesph, not aware of the other boy escaping slowly. 

“I’m not takin you anywhere,” Joseph said sternly, digging his heels into the muddy ground below his boots. 

The men both chuckled, ugly grins spread across both their faces. 

“Can’t save your father, son. He’s gonna die, people wanna see em’ swing.” the older man laughed, putting his hands around his throat, mocking a noose. 

Joseph could feel his face getting hot, his heartbeat quickening it was making his head rush. He pulled at his arm once more, swinging his head forward he spit on the younger man, making him yell and let go of Joesph's arm. 

Joseph turned his back to run but was halted by the force of the older man's hands push his back, sending him flying forward with a thud as he hit the ground. 

He groaned, the skin on his knees stinging, his right hand pounding as he landed on it. He moved to get up but one of the man's boots pushed down on his back, keeping the boy down in the mud. 

"Don't be stupid now, son." the old man said, giving Joesph's side a little kick. "Just take us to yer daddy."

Joesph's eyes stung, he wiggled under the man's boot as he felt his hand aching underneath him, he shook his head softly. Another kick made contact with his ribs, harder this time. He groaned again as he squeezed his eyes shut. 

A crack rang through the air, making Joesphs ears ring. What was that? Did he get shot? Nothing hurt other than his knees and hands. Was he dead? He didn't dare open his eyes. 

"Hey! What the hell?!" The younger bounty hunter said, seeing his older partner drop to the ground with a loud thump. 

Joesph could hear footsteps approaching, 'please don't be another bounty hunter', he prayed.

"Step away," a deep voice growled. He recognized it instantly, his father. "Now!" he boomed out. 

The man took a few steps back, slightly raising his hands as he smirked. "Ah, just the man we came for." 

Arthur furrowed his eyebrows as he held his pistol up, index finger grazing the trigger. 

"Now friend, we can settle this like gentleman and you can come with me." The man said.

"I ain't yer friend," Arthur growled his face stern and brushed with anger. 

The man stepped closer to Arthur, teasing his existence as Arthur's gun followed him. 

"You ain't tough, pretty boy. No need to lose the fight." the man chuckled, unaware of the presence behind him.

"Goodnight." Arthur chuckled softly, cocking an eyebrow at the man. 

The man's expression showed confusion, goodnight? The bottom of John's rifle coming down making contact with the back of his head, knocking the man out cold. 

Arthur quickly holstered his gun as he rushed over to his son, still on the ground with his hands over his ears, unaware of what is happening. Arthur knelt down and rubbed Joesphs back gently, calming him before picking him up off the ground. 

"Are you alright? What hurts? Is something broken?" Arthur held his son in his arms as he examined his body, worry plastered on his face. 

Joesph nodded softly, opening and closing his fingers. His hand hurt but it wasn't broken. His ribs ached and bruises were most likely forming already. But he was alive. 

"I'm okay," he said gently, hanging onto his father tightly. "It's okay." 

Arthur sighed softly, his eyebrows furrowed in worry as he walked towards Ghost. 

"Jack ran to get us, I should've checked on you before this happened." he shook his head, biting at the inside of his lip.

John followed behind, the bounty hunter hogtied and hanging on John's shoulder. "Let's bring him back, bastard deserves to be tortured," John said, tossing the man onto his own horse before getting in the saddle. 

Arthur slowly lifted Joesph onto the shire, carefully patting his knee before climbing up on the saddle. 

Joseph hugged his father from behind and sighed with relief. 

"I'm sorry son, they just wanted to get you to come to me." Arthur shook his head, heeling Ghost into a trot. 

"You saved me..." Joesph mumbled into his father's back.

Arthur smiled softly, he wished he was in a situation where he didn't have to save his son but he always would protect him when needed. 

"Are you bringin' the hunter back?" Joesph asked. 

"Mhmm, your mothers gonna want a word with him." Arthur chuckled softly. You were scarier than him when you got mad, even he knew not to mess with that. 

Still, anyone who came between Arthur and his son would wish they hadn't. Don't fuck with Arthur Morgan's family, that should be a rule in the bible. Joesph clearly knew that now.


	7. A Mother's Fury

Arthur’s shire made his way back to the overlook with ease more than likely sensing the anxiety coming from his two riders. Joesph was still clinging onto his father’s back, resting his forehead while taking small inhales hoping to not hurt his aching ribs anymore. 

John had ridden off the other way hoping to find Charles who was currently out hunting. Charles was usually the one to go to when people needed calming down, somehow he knew what to say to everyone in order to get them to come down off their rage. Arthur knew that you were going to be in fits when he returned, so he needed Charles’ moral support. 

Arthur hitched Ghost up near the entrance of camp giving him a few quick pats before carefully lifting his son down. Joseph winced softly as his feet hit the ground earning a frown from Arthur. 

“I’ll carry you again,” Arthur said as he stepped towards his son, who stepped back slightly and shook his head. 

“I can do it,” Joseph said while clearly in pain, he was stubborn like his father. Arthur knew all too well that there was no point arguing. 

“Alright, c’mon,” Arthur grabbed his son’s hand as he walked slowly towards Joepshs tent, noticing Jack and Abigail sitting on the cot. 

“Oh, Joesph! Are you alright?!” Abigail quickly got off the cot and rushed over towards them, a deep worry in her eyes. 

Joseph nodded and smiled softly, trying not to show the pain currently riddling through his body. He went over to his cot to sit down beside Jack, who looked like he was on the borderline of a panic attack. He leaned over, careful of his hand and wrapped Jack in a soft hug. 

“Thank you, you’re the best friend I could ask for.” Joseph smiled at Jack as he nodded, clearly examining his body.

“Are you hurt?!” Jack asked, voice high from nerves.

“Not too bad, don’t worry.” Joseph shook his head, glancing over at his father who was explaining what had happened to Abigail and you. You had rushed over when you realized they had returned. You had no idea what was happening other than just hearing that your son needed help before Arthur and John rushed off. 

It was not moments later when you rushed over to Joesph, grabbing him and wrapping him in a hug, tears forming at the brim of your lashes. Abigail came over to usher Jack out of the tent, patting Joepsh’s shoulder before leaving. 

You examined your son, gently holding the hand he seemed to be favouring, his pants had small holes in the knee from where he fell. His face was unharmed, but when you got him to take his shirt off you could see bruises forming on his side. You had clasped your hand over your mouth, stifling a sob - Joseph just hugged you as Arthur frowned, his heart shattering for both his son and his wife. 

“I’m okay Ma,” Joseph said softly, as your tear-filled eyes raked over the bruises and cuts on his body. “I’ll be okay.” 

Arthur went to his son’s chest under the cot and got him some clean clothes, giving him a hug before sending him to their tent so his mother could calm down. “Go change and get something to eat, take er’ easy, please,” Arthur said to Joesph as he watched his son nod and exit his own tent. 

You sat beside the cot, hand over your chest as you shook your head. Your head was spinning, pretty sure there were two Arthur’s in front of you rather than one. Another sob escaped from your lips as more tears fell down your cheeks.

“Breathe, Y/N,” Arthur came to sit in front of you, taking your hands in his as he faced you. “It’s scary, I know but he’s alive.” 

You shook your head, squeezing Arthur’s hands probably harder than needed. “What kind of sick person does that to a child… a child!” you basically shouted. 

“He’ll be taken care of, trust me on that.” Arthur drew circles on your hands with his thumbs, looking into your eyes with both sorrow and love. 

“Joesph didn’t do anything, he’s a sweet boy! They’re evil, evil men.” You furrowed your eyebrows, anger replacing the sadness in your body.

Arthur shook his head, sighed as he motioned for you to come closer. You basically crawled over to sit on his lap. 

“I know yer angry, I’m beyond angry. But, Joseph is alive and that’s all you gotta focus on right now, princess.” He kissed your forehead, lingering his lips on your skin. 

“Where is the bastard?” you grumbled, inhaling deeply trying to calm yourself down- Arthurs natural musk filling your nostrils helping the process. 

Arthur rubbed your back, pulling you into his chest as he bit his bottom lip - a little nervous to tell you he’ll be in camp in a matter of minutes. Not that he doesn’t want him alive to beat the snot out of him, but he wasn’t quite sure how you’d react. 

“Uhm,” he said softly, he tapped his fingers on your back, a habit of his when he would get nervous. “Well.” 

You raised your head to look at him, tilting it slightly in confusion as you tried to read his facial expression. “What?”   
“Well, pretty sure he’s still on the back of John’s horse,” he chuckled nervously. “Maybe still knocked out.” 

You raised your eyebrow, you looked down at your hands- fingers twiddling together. 

“Knocked out?” you asked. You expected Arthur’s and John’s rage to get the best of them. 

“I weren’t expecting to keep him alive, then John just hit him with the butt of his rifle, so that settled it.” Arthur shrugged softly, watching for a reaction.

“He’s gonna wish you had shot him,” you furrowed your eyebrows, glancing up at Arthur. “I’ll have little mercy. Nobody hurts our son.” 

Arthur couldn’t help but smirk, he knew damn well you’d want to have more than a few words with the young man. Even Arthur wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of that- he had been a few times and had made sure to stay in line ever since. 

Your conversation had been interrupted by the sound of commotion coming from outside. You sprang up from Arthurs lap nearly knocking your head on his chin. He hadn’t seen you move this fast in while, he looked back almost in shock as he watched you disappear out of the tent. 

He stumbled to his feet running after you he knew exactly why you were running out so quickly. If John and Charles were back that meant the young bounty hunter had entered the camp. As much as he would love for that bastard to be dead he wasn't going to let you do it, no way there was going to be a bounty added to your head too. 

He saw you making your way over to John, fists clenched as you pushed your braid out of your face. Uh oh. 

"Where is that fucker?!" You shouted at John, getting up close to his face. Charles stood beside him, looking down at you- you knew he was going to try to calm you down, you weren't having any of it. 

John went to open his mouth before you heard an unfamiliar voice from behind the two men. You pushed them out of the way best you could, catching the eye of the young man now tied against a tree. 

You stood still for a moment, your heart pounding from your growing adrenalin, the young man looked at you and gave you a sick smirk. 

"Ah, hello," he said. You still stood with your fists clenched, not even sure where to start. Arthur came up behind you, lightly putting a hand on your shoulder. 

"Ya must be Mrs. Morgan, huh. Pretty little thing ain'tcha? A nice lookin' whore for the outlaw." he snickered. 

"What the fuck did you just say to me?!" you shouted, stepping closer to the man. Your nostrils flared. 

"Quite the mouth on you, bet you put it to work nicely." he looked at you, his eyes dark - normally you would be slightly intimidated but not this time. 

"What gives you the right to beat on my child?!" you yelled, voice slightly cracking both from anger and the strain on your vocal cords.

"Little bitch wouldn't listen to us," the man shrugged, "he could've made it easy on himself. Instead, he chose not to cooperate." 

"He's twelve! He's a child! You're a sick bastard! You're lucky you weren't killed.. yet." 

"Your husband, Mrs. Morgan, is the reason for this. Man's got quite the price on him, as well as Mr. Van Der Linde over there." 

You shook your head, you didn't understand why he would go after a child. 

"You call yourself a man?!! Coming after a child?! You deserve to hang out with our dirty laundry." you sneered. 

"You have quite the temper," he sneered back, basically spitting at you. "Is that why Morgan kept you around? You this feisty in the bed too?" 

"Fuck you!" you stepped forward to slap him, your hand hitting his cheek with such force you swore you felt his jaw move. 

He turned his head to look at you again, smirking like he was enjoying this. What was wrong with this guy?!

"Anytime, sweetie," he chuckled darkly, "bet I can show you a better time than yer having with him." He motioned his head towards Arthur, who had his jaw clenched tight. 

You slapped him again, your own hand stinging from the harshness of the contact. 

"I'll have your head, you bastard! I'll make sure you suffer for what you've done!" you gritted your teeth, shaking your head slightly. 

"Ya won't do shit, you bitch! You and yer lil family are going to get what's coming to you." He smirked. "Maybe when your man here swings I can take ya for a romp in the hotel after, you'd like that hm?" 

You basically growled, attempting to lunge at the man - Arthur's burly arms wrapping around your core holding you back as you swung your arms around trying to get a proper hit on the man. 

By now almost the whole camp was watching, everyone quite angry about what the man had done but they left the beating up to you and Arthur. 

Arthur held his arms around you, Charles walked over and stood in between the man and you. 

"You can't kill him, Y/N," Charles spoke softly, "We have to be smart about this, do you want a bounty too?" 

You huffed, he was right- but that didn't mean you couldn't get a few good hits in, right? You knew the boys would finish him off later with Arthur leading the pack. 

You nodded softly, Arthur let his grip soften as Charles stood back, letting you get a look at the man again. 

You took a deep breath attempting to compose yourself before speaking again. 

"I will make sure your short stay here is as miserable as possible," you spoke, feeling Arthurs arms still holding you back. "you're going to wish you never laid a hand on my son." Your words were cold, almost like venom as you spat them towards him. You wanted revenge, more than before- you were going to make sure he was to suffer. 

"You don't scare me, neither does your little gang here." he spat back rolling his eyes with anger. 

You sneered again, out of the corner of your eye you saw one of Pearson's knives laying on the table, obviously being used for a game of finger fillet before. You quickly reached over to grab at it, slipping out of Arthurs grip. You clutched it in your hand, moving toward the man and pushed the tip of the knife against his chest. 

"Do not try me." you whispered to him, staring straight into his beady eyes- now wide from the feeling of the tip of a knife being pressed into his chest. 

Hosea moved over to you, grabbing the knife from your hand swiftly before tossing it down on the grass away from you. You snapped your head toward him as you frowned, he just shook his head softly. 

Arthur stepped forward and grabbed you again, picking you up and moving you away from the man. He couldn't help but feel some pride in his woman, that move is definitely something he would do. 

You whined as Arthur walked you back to the tent, making sure he stood in front of the exit in case you tried to run out and take another stab at the man. As much as he'd love to see it, he knew Charles was right. 

"Easy there killer," Arthur nudged you toward the cot, attempting to calm you once more. "You'll get your chance once we figure out a plan." 

You frowned as you looked at Arthur, his tall figure making it basically impossible for you to even think about trying to go out there again. You huffed, maybe you could distract him then go back out. 

"Look!" you pointed towards something random, hoping this classic would work. Arthur raised his eyebrow and moved to look at what you were pointing at. You quickly tried to run past him.

You grunted as he grabbed you, pulling you back as he laughed softly. "Nice try, princess." 

"Let me go, Arthur." you whined, kicking your legs around. He couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. 

"No, you'll kill us all," he shook his head, tossing you on the cot and stood in front of you with his arms crossed. "Calm down. I know it's hard not to kill that bastard, but in good time." 

You knew he was right, you wanted the man to suffer. Did that make you a horrible person? No. He was the one to even be stupid enough to lay a finger on your son. 

"Fine." you huffed as you looked up at Arthur. 

"You're not getting out, princess." he smirked down at you, you rolled your eyes. 

You wondered where Hosea had tossed the knife, no particular reason- just you maybe needed it for later.


	8. In My Head

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heavy smut warning *chefs kiss*   
> I have dirty fantasies, whoops  
> Also, it's no surprise Arthur likes being called daddy, I'm sure we've figured that out before.

It had been almost a week since the young bounty hunter had come to your camp, you hadn’t learnt much about him but his name, Arthur threatened that he wanted ‘the undertaker to know what to put on the tombstone.’ Silas, a weird name for an even weirder fella. For some reason, he had taken a liking to you, not a good one though, one that made Micah seem like a gentleman. Imagine that. 

This Silas loved to make dirty remarks about you and seemed to get a kick out of making comments on how Arthur was bad in bed. This was far from the truth. He had got a good beating from Arthur when he commented on how your body looked ‘tight’ even after having a child years ago. Something about something else being tight as well. You just scoffed but that was the tipping point for your cowboy, unleashing absolute hell on the young man. 

The camp was used to this prisoner, having a few people tied to a tree before they didn’t take much mind. Knowing the circumstances of the situation none of them paid no attention, if they did it was to spit an ugly remark at him or something to that nature. John, Charles or Sean would let him off his ‘leash’ at the tree allowing him to relieve himself. The only foods he would get were the rotten scraps or stale bread chunks - nothing appetizing. You were surprised he would eat it. 

You could tell he was starting to regret his decision of laying a finger on your boy, the beatings he’d receive left him bloody and bruised. Although he hadn’t gotten it through his head that maybe if he stopped making comments towards you, then he wouldn’t receive as many. Alas, he was just stupid and continued to do so anyway, his sick liking for getting you worked up. 

Two days ago Hosea and Susan had taken Jack and Joesph out on a camping trip for a few days, more or less an excuse so that the boys didn’t have to be around Silas more than needed. The gang planning on letting him starve or get beaten to a pulp, then dumping him off in the woods somewhere soon. 

It was after sundown and you had gotten into your silk white nightgown, your usual attire for the night in your tent. Lots of members of the camp were off doing their own thing for the night, leaving only a few of you lollygagging around. Javier had put his guitar away, a usual sign that people were starting to head to their cots. John had let Silas take his bathroom break before handing him some stale bread, mould could definitely be seen on the side of the bun. 

You hadn’t closed the canvased flaps of your tent yet, you had when you changed but then reopened them to let the nice breeze in. Arthur was still sitting at the dying fire talking to Uncle about something, or more like bickering. You usually had a glass of water on the crate beside your cot in case you had gotten thirsty in the night. Although, you couldn’t remember where you had put the glass this morning. Maybe by the dish bin? You were a creature of habit and needed the glass in the tent even if you didn’t drink from it tonight. 

You got up from your cot, not bothering to put a jacket on since the air was warm enough to be comfortable in your silk dress. You exited your tent, walking across the camp to the table where the dish bin was, grabbing your glass you went over to refill it with water from the large pale. The blackness of the night making it hard to make out anyone around you, almost everyone was in their tents anyway. 

“Nice dress,” you heard Silas snicker. You had completely forgotten they had moved him closer to the middle of the camp for the night, making sure he wouldn’t somehow get away. 

You rolled your eyes as you dipped your cup into the water, getting your hand wet you dried it on the bottom of your dress. 

“I’d like to see what’s under it.” he said, you could hardly see his face but knew he was staring. 

“Jesus, are you ever going to stop?” you asked, putting your free hand on your hip. 

“Never, sweetie. Bet you’d look nice with that skimpy thing off ya, sprawled out on a cot.” 

“Only for one man, and one man only.” you said coldly, wondering why you were even entertaining this conversation. 

“Morgan could never do the things I could do to you,” he smirked. “I bet he ain’t much fun to fuck. You need a man who can do you the right way.” 

You just scoffed, rolling your eyes once again you thought they’d get stuck. “Trust me, you don’t know what you’re going on about.” 

Silas just hummed, clearly not impressed that you weren’t taking him up on the offer. You shook your head and turned on your heel walking back to your tent.

Few minutes went by before Arthur entered the tent, taking his hat off and running his hands through his hair before taking his jacket off tossing it on the crate. 

You watched him as you played with the pages of the book in your hands, closing the flaps of your tent before unbuttoning his shirt and shrugging it off his broad shoulders. You bit your lip as your eyes raked over him, he was deliciously muscular and you never could keep your eyes off his amazing arms. The light shine of the oil lamp illuminated his face, a mixture of light brown and blonde stubble on his face, his hair short and parted in the middle, buzzed slightly at the sides. He was incredibly handsome. 

He sat beside you on the cot, pulling his journal out from his bag and opening it, his usual routine before getting comfy in the cot. You watched as he wrote, obviously deep in thought as his jaw clenched slightly. 

You looked at his arms, muscles softly flexing as he wrote. Your eyes moved to his muscular back, biting your lip again as thoughts of your nails dragging down his back made you giggle softly. You were pretty sure you had made him bleed more than once from your nails continually digging into his flesh, though he didn’t mind at all. You two were rough with each other, he loved the sight of his large hand being wrapped around your throat as he made you cum over and over again. It was easy to manhandle you with his large figure towering over you, not to mention you'd basically beg for him to use you like a toy. 

You hadn't realized how deep in your own head you were until Arthur cleared his throat softly, closing his journal and setting it back on his bag. You still had your book in your hands, basically clenching the thin pages together. You swallowed softly as you closed the book, tossing it on the crate with his jacket. The movement of your body made you feel the wetness between your legs. 

Arthur laid down beside you, unaware of your condition. You laid back, glancing over at him as he put an arm across your middle, resting it there. 

You leaned over and kissed him deeply for a few moments before biting his bottom lip, tugging it towards you slowly. 

Arthur chuckled, leaning upon his forearm and slightly moving his body so he was half over you. He kissed you slowly, biting your lip back making you giggle. As much as you loved to kiss him, you were too hungry for more. 

You let out a whine, making him raise an eyebrow at you. You wiggled your hips slightly, squeezing your legs together softly. 

"Ya alright, princess?" he asked softly, still slightly leaning over you. 

You shook your head, looking up at him as you bit your lip. 

"What?" he asked again, clearly not taking your small hints very well. 

You furrowed your eyebrows, squeezing your legs together again. 

"Fuck me," you whimpered, "please." 

He licked his lips before smirking down at you, putting his hand on your stomach moving it down slowly. You squirmed. 

"In a mood are we, princess?" he chuckled as he leaned his head down, kissing your neck slowly. 

You nodded slightly, moving your hand down to the bottom of your nightgown as you pushed it up a bit, gasping softly when Arthur nipped at your sweet spot on your neck. 

"I need it, fuck." you groaned softly as he moved his hand down lower, grazing his fingers over your clothed core. 

"Need what?" he smirked against your skin, running his finger up and down your core slowly. 

You whimpered at the small contact. Moving your head back as he sucked on your pulse point. 

"You. Fuck me, please. I need your cock in me, daddy." you whimpered. 

You wiggled your hips as you felt his thumb rub over your clothed clit slowly, moaning softly.

"Don't tease me," you moaned out, hearing him chuckle deeply. "Fuck me, I'm so wet." 

He moved down to kiss between your collarbones, his fingers moving your panties to the side as he ran a finger between your soaked folds. 

"Yer soaked," he smirked nipping at the skin on your collarbone, making you gasp softly again. "All for me?" 

You nodded, rolling your hips against his finger. "All for you, daddy. Always." 

He moved his head down from your chest and trailed messy kisses down your stomach, moving down towards the end of the cot he looked up at you as he kissed down the inside of your right thigh. You couldn't help but moan at the sight. He licked his lips as he grabbed the waistband of your panties, tugging them roughly down your legs and tossing them somewhere on the ground. 

Moving your thighs apart, he looked down to eye his property, he bit his lip as he groaned softly. "My pretty little pussy." you whimpered again. "So fucking nice." he moved his hand down, taking two fingers and spreading your folds apart, admiring your pinkness. 

"Ruin me," you moaned as you felt your wetness running down your core. "Please I just need your cock in me." you begged him, lifting your dress up and over your head, exposing your perky breasts. 

Arthur licked his lips as he shook his head slightly, smirking devilishly at you. He loved to tease you, make you practically scream as you begged for him. He loved making you a wet mess, not being able to control what came out of your mouth. 

He leaned down kissing down your inner thigh again, slowly making his way to where you needed him most. Licking a long stripe over you, collecting your wetness, you lightly threw your head back. He slowly moved his tongue up and down your folds, doing this a few times before turning his attention toward your throbbing clit. He captured it in his mouth and sucked gently, moving his tongue against it. You moaned arching your back slightly, letting your eyes flutter closed. He flicked his tongue over it quickly, his eyes never leaving you as he watched you whimper. Slowly moving his index finger down your folds he pushed it roughly into you, fingerfucking you roughly as he sucked at your clit. Your hands moved to his hair, tugging at it as you gasped and moaned, rolling your hips. He lightly nipped your clit making you gasp before he added another finger, stretching you with his large digits. 

"Fuck!" you moaned out, moving your head to look down at him, your eyes meeting his. "Fuck me, please, fuck, daddy." you gasped out as he curled his fingers inside your tight pussy, making your head spin. 

You tugged at his hair harder as you rolled your hips faster against him, moaning continuously. 

He moved his mouth from your clit, licking his lips as he smirked, moving his fingers faster inside you. "You taste so good, princess." 

You loved when he talked like that, making you even wetter than you were before if that was possible. 

"Daddy," you whined biting your lip, "pound my little pussy, please." he groaned as he finally gave in, removing his fingers from you. 

He sat up, moving his hand up to your mouth as you sucked on the fingers that were inside you moments before. He undid his belt with his free hand, hungrily pushing his jeans down his legs before standing up to kick them off completely. His erection sprung free, you bit your lip harshly as you watched him crawl back on the cot, climbing on top of you. 

He moved his hand down and rubbed your clit for a moment before taking his member in his hand lining it up with your tight entrance. 

You both moaned out as he roughly pushed into you, stretching you to the max every time. He grabbed your legs wrapping them around his waist before pulling out slightly and ramming himself back into you. You gasped. 

"How are you always so tight?!" he groaned, rolling his hips slowly against yours. You moaned out loudly, not caring who heard. 

"Harder," you whimpered, looking up at him as you furrowed your eyebrows in protest. "fuck me harder." 

He continued to move slowly, smirking down at you as you became a whimpering mess beneath him. 

"Fuck," he groaned softly, picking up his pace as his own teasing became too much for him. 

You moaned as you squeezed yourself around him, throwing your head back on your feathered pillow. "Daddy." you mewed. 

Arthur moaned as looked down, watching where you two were connected, the sound of skin and your wetness filling the tent. 

"So fuckin' nice," he groaned, pulling out and ramming into you harshly, quickening his pace more. "You like that?" 

You nodded, eyes rolling back as he rammed into you, making your body move with every thrust. "Yes, yes, yes!" you screamed out. 

He growled as he moved a hand to wrap around your throat, squeezing it slightly. You wrapped your legs tighter around him, trying to pull him even deeper in you. 

"Little whore, love getting pounded huh?" he smirked, slamming his hips against yours with force. 

You nodded best you could, looking up at him as he ruined you from above, you felt like you were getting split in half - your favourite feeling if you were being honest. You could feel the flame in your core growing rapidly, you wrapped your own hand around his wrist that was on your throat. 

"Cum in me, please," you moaned, biting down on your lip, "Daddy, fill me up." 

He moaned loudly, his own high quickly approaching. You looked up at him with pleading eyes, begging him to finish in you. 

His thrusts became more rapid and sloppy, the grip on your throat tightening slightly. You didn't care. 

You moved your other hand down to your core, rubbing your clit harshly as he continued to fuck you roughly. You couldn't hold it any longer, your orgasm rushed over you as you moaned loudly, more than likely waking some members up. Your eyes rolled back as Arthur sloppily snapped his hips against you a few more times before spilling inside you, tilting his head back and moaning. You watched as he moved his hips a few more times before groaning, squeezing your throat once more before pulling out and collapsing beside you. You both were out of breath, gasping for air as you laid side by side. 

"Fuck," he said softly, pulling you closer to him and kissing your head, you giggled softly as you cuddled into him. Pulling the blankets up on the two of you. 

"I'm gonna be sore," you whispered into his neck, you heard him chuckle. 

"Wouldn't have it any other way, princess." he smirked as he rubbed your back. 

You smiled, pecking his neck before closing your eyes. 

No doubt your prisoner heard all of that, proving that his assumptions were wrong.


	9. Morning Dew

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More shameless morning smut, heh. Sorry I couldn't stop. :')

The dim orange light was slowly beginning to creep its way over the hills lightly glowing in your tent. You groaned softly as the loud singing of the birds outside successfully lulled you awake. You two had barely gotten any sleep last night, every hour or so one of you would wake each other up to go for another round clearly taking advantage of your time alone. Your body ached, there were hickeys forming all over your body, Arthur sporting red marks down his back and arms from your nails. 

You moved your body back slightly, cuddling closer to Arthur as he tightened his arm around you. You weren’t sure the time, maybe five in the morning considering the sun was just rising. Still early enough to get a few more hours of rest. You weren’t really a morning person, when you needed to get up early you were known to hog the pot of coffee. 

You stretched out your body lightly, getting comfortable enough to fall back into your short slumber. You felt Arthur move behind you, moving his head to your bare shoulder as he kissed it gently. 

“Mm, morning, kitten,” he said gruffly, his delicious morning voice making you bite your lip. 

You yawned softly, burying your head deeper into your pillow. “I’m going back to sleep,” you said, pushing your back against his chest hoping he’d stay with you. 

He ran his hand down your side slowly, kissing your shoulder again before he pulled your hips back against him. You raised your eyebrow as you felt something hard pressing against the small of your back. You were sure that you had got all his energy out last night, apparently not. 

“Oh?” you giggled softly, keeping your head in your pillow, you were too tired to do any of the work. If he wanted it he was going to have to do the work. 

He chuckled deeply, kissing your neck again grazing his teeth where a hickey was forming, you moaned softly. Arthur moved his hand off your hip, trailing it up the front of you till he got to your chest, taking one of your breasts in his large hand as he played with it, tweaking at your now semi-hard nipple. You whimpered, turning your head to look at him. 

“I’m sore,” you whispered, looking at him as he smirked at you his eyes were dark with lust. 

“You can do it, kitten.” A nickname he used when he was especially horny, you had learned that years ago. You whimpered again as he tugged at your nipple, making you push yourself harder against him. 

You nodded as you bit your lip, wiggling your hips on him. You kissed his lips as he moved his hand to lift your leg up, hooking it with his arm, he moved his hips to position himself better behind you. 

“Good girl,” he smirked, running himself between your folds, still wet from your mixed juices. “I’ll take care of ya.” He pushed his large member in you once again, your walls were swollen from his hard fuckings during the night, making you feel even tighter around him.

You gasped as you felt him stretch you, you were so sore but it still felt so so good. Plus you loved the thought that he was more or less just using you for his own pleasure this morning. He groaned as he buried his head in the crook of your neck, snapping his hips roughly into you, you weren’t sure how he had this much stamina after all the rounds before. 

“Fuck, kitten,” he moaned into your neck, his hand roughly gripping your leg as he held it, ramming himself into your sweet spot, making you yelp slightly. “My little toy,” he growled. 

His dirty talk making you whimper as you clenched your sore walls around him, gripping your pillow in your hand - you thought you might tear it open. 

“Mhmm daddy.” is all you could muster out between your moans, softly rolling your hips against his. 

“Yer so pretty when yer getting your pussy pounded,” he growled, pulling out and ramming himself back in, pushing your body forward slightly, you basically screamed. “Just letting me use you.” 

You squeezed your eyes shut, whimpering as he gripped your hip, fingers digging into your pale flesh. You could hardly feel your insides anymore, Arthur turning them to mush as he continued to drive himself into you. You could feel some of his seed leaking out of you, no doubt making a mess on the blankets. 

“Ah!” you gasped softly as his free hand moved to your throat, his favourite spot. His own moans becoming louder and continuous as he was reaching his peak. You couldn’t help but let your body go slightly limp from all the pleasure, your head spun for the hundredth time. 

“Oh God,” he groaned, teeth biting at your shoulder as he squeezed your throat, “Yes.” he hissed out deeply, thrusting himself into you sloppily before you felt him twitch inside you, overflowing you with his cum. You left out a soft cry from pleasure as he let your leg go, pushing himself into you deeper to keep his spend in. He moved his hand away from your throat, you sucked his finger teasingly for a minute. 

“Jesus,” he groaned softly, catching his breath as he kept himself inside you. “Yer gonna be the death of me, princess.” 

You giggled softly, not being able to move. You sighed softly as you rested your head on your pillow once again, closing your eyes as you drifted back to sleep slowly. 

A few hours had passed when you both were woken up by John entering your tent, clearing his throat. You scrambled to make sure you were covered with the blankets, putting your hand over your eyes as the sunlight was now too bright for you. John laughed softly at the two of you, his eyes scanned around your tent, seeing the discarded clothes on the ground - he darted his eyes toward Arthur, the marks on his arms from your nails now more visible. 

“Oh, hmm,” John smirked, nodding his head at Arthur who was looking at him, clearly still half asleep. “Taking advantage of Joesph being gone, huh?” John laughed. 

Arthur groaned as he moved his hand to his pillow, picking it up and throwing it at John. “What?” Arthur rubbed his eyes, looking at John. 

“I just came to tell ya we’re movin camps,” John shrugged, picking the pillow up from off the ground and tossing it back at Arthur. “Or we are gonna be soon, Dutch don’t want any more bounty hunters near.” 

Arthur just nodded, plopping his head back onto the cot. 

“Yer supposed to go out with Charles to find somewhere,” John said before turning to exit the tent. “So get up ya rabbits.” 

You groaned as Arthur got up, you pulled the blankets back over your head. 

“If I have to get up, you do too, princess.” Arthur laughed as he began to put a clean outfit on. 

“No,” you whined, clutching the blankets around your head, "let me sleep." you frowned from under the blanket.

Arthur smirked, shaking his head as he chuckled. "Never." he pulled the blankets back from you, making you pout in protest. 

"Meanie." you groaned as you grabbed a blanket to wrap around you as you stood up, deciding what to put on. 

"Love you too, baby." he pecked your lips before winking at you, exiting the tent swiftly. 

You stuck your tongue out as he left. Praying there were enough cups of coffee to get you through today.


	10. Danke Schoen

Arthur sighed as he stretched out his back and cracked his knuckles, feeling almost sore himself from all the rounds you two had gone. He had no complaints though considering you two couldn’t always do that when everyone in the camp was around, especially your son. Even though Joesph had his own tent now he still had the habit of randomly coming in to annoy his parents, something he found entertaining. 

Pearson was serving out oatmeal for breakfast as the pot of coffee bubbled over the fire. Members of the camp varied between eating their breakfast and slowly beginning to pack their belongings together. Arthur felt a hand on his back as he glanced over, Charles gave him a smile. 

“Get some breakfast before we head out, I think I know a spot but we should check it first.” He said, holding a cup of coffee. 

Arthur nodded before walking over to Pearsons table, grabbing a bowl of breakfast for himself before sitting down at one of the round tables. Karen, Mary-Beth and Sean sat at the table, all glancing up at Arthur before sharing a look with each other. Sean leaned over to give Arthur a pat on the back, Arthur returning a look at him with his eyebrow cocked. 

“Mornin?” Arthur mumbled, focused on his breakfast. He hadn’t realized how hungry was till he sat down. 

“Ya get any sleep there Englishman? Y/N sure is a loud lass eh!” Sean smirked as the girls giggled. 

Arthur rolled his eyes as he looked around the table, everyone seemed to be entertained over this. 

“Where is she? Can she walk?!” Karen asked before glancing over at your tent. 

“Barely!” Sean laughed out, slapping the table lightly. 

Arthur just shook his head not even trying to join this conversation. He just ate the rest of his breakfast as his table poked fun at him, obviously, he was right when he thought everyone could hear them. You had emerged from the tent and gotten yourself and your cowboy cups of coffee. 

“There she is!” Mary-Beth gleamed at you, you smiled at her as you set Arthur’s mug of coffee in front of him. 

“Ya seem to be walking fine,” Karen giggled at you, giving you a teasing smirk. “You okay?”

You laughed softly, shaking your head - you knew that this would be coming, you didn’t care, you joined in on the fun most of the time anyway. 

“Damn right sore but I’m aight,” you said as you nudged Arthur’s arm, he just gave you a look, “Right, cowboy?” you giggled. 

Arthur chuckled softly before chugging down his coffee, clearly wanting to leave this table. He stood up as he finished, Sean boldly leaned over and motioned his hand towards Arthur’s crotch.

“Must be nice!” Sean said, looking at the girls who were almost howling. You couldn’t help but put your hand over your mouth trying not to laugh. 

Arthur smacked Sean’s hand away then smacked the back of the Irishman’s head lightly, “Touch me, yer gonna lose that hand, kid.” Arthur said. 

Arthur gave you a kiss, “I’m goin with Charles, I think we’ll be back in a few.” he smiled at you, you nodded and pecked his lips again. Arthur gave his little two-finger salute to the table, walking over to Charles who was near the horses. You sat down at the table to take his place, sipping your own coffee as the girls asked you about last night. 

\- - 

Arthur walked over to Charles, “Ready?” he asked him. Charles nodded as he went to Taima getting her saddle ready. Arthur smiled as he went over to Ghost, he ran his hands through his black coloured mane, earning pleased whinnies from the great shire. Arthur reached in his bag grabbing some wild mint feeding it to his horse before hopping up on the saddle. 

“The place I have in mind is near Rhodes, called Clements Point.” Charles said as he got into his saddle, heeling Taima into a trot, Arthur followed beside him. 

“It better than that Dewberry Creek Micah suggested?” Arthur asked. Dewberry Creek wasn’t exactly a great spot, Javier and Bill went to check it out days ago and said there was probably someplace better they could find. What do you expect when Micah suggests something?! 

“I believe so,” Charles laughed, “It’s right by Flat Iron Lake, make’s it easier to get food for us.” 

“You think it’s clear?” 

“Last time I was there it was, but, that was at least a few weeks ago.” 

“Guess we’ll find out.” Arthur kicked his heels into Ghost, making him pick up his pace. 

The two men rode out nearing Dewberry Creek they decided to take a look at it, wondering what Javier and Bill were going on about. As they neared one of the banks of the creek a wagon, and what looked like an abandoned camp caught their attention. 

“Should we check it out?” Charles asked, slowing down his horse as they got closer. 

“Wouldn’t hurt, I guess.” Arthur shrugged as he slowed down Ghost, swiftly getting off his saddle before walking over towards the camp. Charles followed behind. 

The camp didn’t look like it had been empty for long, ambers in the fire still hot, food lying out- but where were the people? 

Charles walked over to the wagon, there were crates sitting beside it seeming like they were hiding something. Arthur followed him curious to see if there were chests or lockboxes that were being hidden. Charles moved one of the crates, much to the men’s surprise the barrel of a gun greeted them from behind the crate. 

“Woah,” Arthur took a step back, moving his hands up in surrender. “Easy.” 

Charles looked at the woman, blonde, who was holding the gun shakily, children on either side of her. He raised his eyebrows, shaking his head, putting his own bow behind his back. 

“We mean you no harm, we thought this was abandoned,” Charles said softly, “Are you alright?” 

The woman lowered the gun slowly, hesitatingly coming out from the wagon, her children followed. They all looked a mess, worried to all hell, looked like they had been crying? 

She began to ramble only it wasn't English, both Arthur and Charles looked at each other with puzzled looks. Arthur shook his head at the woman, "English?" he asked softly, she was clearly in a state of panic. 

She stopped talking, furrowing her eyebrows before turning to her daughter, saying something in German before the daughter nodded and spoke up. 

"English isn't good . . . German. Father got taken." she pointed her finger off in the distance, looking like she was about to cry. 

"Taken?" Charles asked, looking in the direction her finger was pointed. The girl just nodded. 

"Men took him! Help! Please." She said with pleading eyes, Charles frowned before turning to Arthur, getting his take on this. 

Arthur just sighed softly, nodding his head before stepping towards the German family. "We'll see what we can do." he said slowly, hoping they'd somewhat understand. 

Charles and Arthur made their way back to their horses, the family sitting on the crates anxiously, talking to each other. 

"Who would've taken em?" Arthur asked, hopping back on Ghost. 

"I'm not sure, but hoof prints go this way." Charles kicked his horse to lunged into a run, following the tracks. Arthur clapped Ghosts' reins and followed. 

The tracks lead to Clements Point which Charles found odd, saying they should keep a lookout. Few small camps were set up, meaning the place was not as empty as Charles had hoped. 

The men both got off their horses as they looked around, the place was empty - or seemed to be. Arthur heard a faint mumbling, someone attempting to get his attention. 

He looked over as he saw a man hogtied on the dirt, rag in his mouth gagging him. He rushed over to cut the ropes, untying the gag behind the man's head. The man began shouting in German, so at least they knew they had the right fellow. 

The sudden screeches of bullets flying past made the three men run for cover. Arthur and Charles swiftly whipped out their guns as the German man hid behind Arthur, shouting something Arthur clearly didn't understand. 

"What the hell are you two doing with our man?!" the one shouted, shooting at Charles. 

Charles shot the two on horseback, shouting at Arthur that there were a few more coming towards them. 

Arthur shot back at lightning speed, the two men working together made it easier. 

"Is that all?!" Arthur breathed a slight sigh of relief before standing up from behind a crate, looking around as he holstered his gun. 

Charles nodded as he called over the horses, hitching his to a tree trunk. 

"I'll stay here and clean up their stuff, you go take him back then tell Dutch this is our spot." Charles said as he began looting whatever valuables the men on the ground had. 

Arthur nodded and got up on Ghost, waiting for the German man to follow. "C'mon." Arthur motioned to the man, who struggled to hoist himself up on the shire. 

Arthur kicked Ghost into a run, making his way back to Dewberry Creek where the rest of the man's family were waiting. The man kept asking questions to Arthur, Arthur would just shake his head, "I'm sorry, I don't speak German." He would keep telling the man. "I can barely speak English, friend." 

They approached the wagon quickly, the family jumping up and rushing over towards the man. Arthur hopped down off Ghost, letting the family have a little reunion for a moment before nudging them towards their wagon. 

"Aight, now get outta here, go somewhere safe!" he said, moving them with his arms.

The man began talking again, Arthur just sighed and gently pushed him to the wagon. "C'mon, Vamos! Vamos." 

The man protested, going under the seat of the wagon and grabbing something, putting it in Arthur's hand as he patted it caringly. 

"Danke Schoen! Danke Schoen!" the man exclaimed. Arthur looked down at his hand, a gold heavy gold bar resting in his palm. He raised his eyebrows, the man must be saying thank you. 

Arthur smiled at the man, nodding softly, "Yeah, uh . . . donkey shine to you too mister!" 

The man patted Arthurs shoulder before turning to get on the wagon, smiling once again at Arthur as he clapped the reins on his own horses. 

Arthur watched as they rode off, putting the gold bar safely in his satchel as he climbed back onto his saddle. He headed back towards camp. 

He had to admit he would've rather listened to that family speaking German than be at camp as Sean sat pointing at his crotch, the loud little redhead. At least now he could call himself a cultured man, donkey shine.


	11. Send Me on My Way

The day of moving to Clements Point came, you hated moving, feeling like you were always taking Joesph away from somewhere just as he was getting comfortable. Though you understood why you always had to change locations and you were not one to go against Dutch’s orders. If you had a complaint you’d simply tell Arthur because you knew he understood where you were coming from. 

Hosea, Susan, Jack and Joepsh had come back from their camping trip just in time, all of them needing to be caught up on what was happening. You had already packed Joesph’s belongings and was helping Abigial with Jacks. 

You glanced up from your current task of putting Jack’s clothes in his crate when you saw that your son had returned. Abigail had told you that she could finish up later, both of you rushing over to your sons to welcome them back. 

Joseph smiled as he watched you walking over to him, rushing over and hugging you tightly, you giggled as you hugged him, kissing the top of his sandy-blonde head. 

“Hey sweetie,” you said smiling, swaying Joseph in your hug, “did you have fun?! I missed ya.” 

Joseph nodded and laughed softly, he looked so happy and content it melted your heart. “Yeah, lot’s of fun!” he gleamed. “We did lots, I wrote it all down.” 

You squeezed his hand, “Tell me all about it on our trip to the new camp, hm?” you winked at him, he chuckled and nodded. 

“Now, go help your father put stuff up on the wagon, please.” you nudged him towards the wagon, Arthur currently lifting crates and suitcases into it. 

Your son nodded as he jogged off to help his dad, no doubt going to talk his ear off about what he’d done on his short trip. 

Susan came over to you, giving you a smile before her eyes darted towards your neck, eyeing the hickeys clearly formed. Your eyes widened a bit, hand coming up to cover them the best you could. 

“Well, I see what you were doing while we were gone,” she said to you, raising an eyebrow. 

You laughed nervously, cheeks burning pink. You didn’t really care about who else saw them, but Susan was like your mother, and somehow it made you feel like a child when she gave you that certain look. 

“Uhm,” you tried hard to change the subject but your mind was running blanks, “did the boys behave themselves?” you smiled softly. 

“Yes, Hosea included. It was good for them to get away from… him.” she looked over towards the trees, Silas still tied up. Looking more and more tired as the days went by, you didn’t care though, you just waited for Arthur and John to get rid of him for good. 

“I agree,” you nodded before swallowing softly, “thank you for taking Joesph out, we appreciate it more than you know.” you smiled. 

“Well, clearly you and Mr. Morgan needed the time alone. You’re welcome, Y/N.” she returned the smile before eyeing up your hickeys again. You nodded once more before turning on your heel and walking off before she could make any more comments. 

You made your way to your boys who had just finished loading the wagon, you smiled to yourself hearing Joesph tell his father about his fishing escapades, how Grandpa Hosea taught him different names of the fish, making up little songs so that he’d remember them all. If anyone had told you as a young girl that you’d have a happy little family like this you wouldn’t believe them, your two peas in a pod - always made you overjoyed watching them together. 

You leaned against the side of the wagon as you listened to Joesph talking to his father, Arthur listened along happily and nodded as he checked the wagon wheels making sure they were secured. 

When Arthur was pleased with the condition of the wagon he stood beside you, wrapping an arm around your shoulder as your son kept rambling on excitedly. Your husband glanced at you, giving you a little smirk as he waited for Joseph to finish his story so he could get the horses. You just shook your head softly knowing that Joesph probably wouldn’t quit talking unless he was stopped. 

You turned your attention back to Joesph as he spoke, you moved your braid away from your shoulder, undoing it before re-braiding it tighter. Joseph suddenly stopped talking causing you and Arthur to look at him wondering why he stopped. He was looking straight at you with an eyebrow raised, a confused look spread on his face. 

“What?” you asked, just as confused as he looked. 

Joseph pointed to your neck, tilting his head slightly, “are those . . . hickeys?!” 

Your eyes widened, moving your braid to cover where he was pointing as you opened your mouth to say something but nothing came out but air. You eyed Arthur for help. 

Arthur cleared his throat, stepping toward his son and gently pushing him towards the direction of the horses, “Uh, go get the horses, okay?” 

Joseph just gave him a look before nodding and making his way off. Arthur snapped his head back at you, cocking an eyebrow.  
“How’s he know what those are?!” you asked in surprise. 

“I ain’t sure,” Arthur shrugged rubbing the back of his neck, “I’m sure he knows what it all is though, he’s not so young anymore.” 

You frowned but you understood what he meant. You were pretty young when you had learnt what sex was, you didn’t remember who told you about it but you learned about it quickly. There were lots of people in the camp who talked openly about sex among other things so Joesph probably just learnt what things were from listening to other people. At least it saved you from giving him ‘the talk’, a bonus you’d take. 

“Just don’t leave them all over my neck next time,” you nudged him teasingly, giggling.

He smirked at you, “I’ll make a note of that.” he chuckled as he grabbed your ass before pecking your cheek, you yelped softly. 

Arthur grinned cheekily at you before walking off to help his son get the horses. 

\- 

The ride to Clements Point was not long though it felt longer since Joesph would not stop asking you questions about the camp, ones you didn’t know how to answer since you knew nothing about Clements Point. 

Arthur just told him he’ll get all his answers when he explores the camp for himself, thank god because you were going crazy. 

Once everyone arrived you all began to set up your belongings, trying hard to make it feel like home again. Jack and Joesph were excited that they were so close to the water, you had to admit it was a gorgeous view. You helped Arthur set up your tent before basically having to drag your son away from the water, telling him that he had to learn how to put his own tent up. 

The location was going beautiful but needed some time to get used to. Sometimes you had wished that you had a permanent spot to stay, a true home. But you knew that in reality, your home was wherever Arthur and Joesph were. 

Once Arthur was done helping your son put his tent up he joined you as you sat on a log on the shore of the lake - just staring off in the distance and enjoying the breeze. 

"Think this'll do?" Arthur asked, wrapping his arm around you and pulling you close to his side. You smiled as you rested your head on his shoulder, your hand patting his knee gently. 

"Sure has a nice view." you said, watching the different birds hazing around in the sky above. 

Arthur hummed in agreement, "Maybe being by a lake will convince John to learn how to swim." he chuckled. 

You giggled, "I'd like to see that, maybe you should teach him." you nudged him gently. 

Arthur snorted softly and shook his head as he laughed, "I'd drown the bastard." 

"What a great teacher," you rolled your eyes sarcastically. Knowing some days Arthur definitely would try to drown John. Brotherhood at its finest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you're all staying safe and healthy. :')   
> I will probably add another chapter later today for Valentine's.   
> If you're enjoying the story so far please leave a comment if you have any suggestions! It would mean a lot <3


	12. Caught In The Act

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut smut

“Do you wanna go on a walk with me?” Arthur asked, interrupting you from the middle of your book. You were sitting on the sand with Tilly, Karen, Sadie and Mary-Beth. All of you looked up at him, the brim of his hat hiding his eyes from the sun. 

“A walk?” Karen asked him, questioning why he would want to randomly go on a stroll. 

Arthur rolled his eyes softly and shook his head, “If my wife would like to, I’m askin’.” 

You put a rock between the pages of your book, setting it down on the sand as you stood up, gently wiping the sand off your dress. 

“Why not,” you smiled at him, glancing back at the girls, “Make sure my book doesn’t blow away now.” they giggled and nodded, Sadie waving you off with her hand. 

“Behave yourselves!” Karen shouted at you two as you walked down the shore. 

You watched the water, wrapping your arm around Arthurs as you walked beside him, the breeze making your hair move into your eyes slightly. 

“Where we goin?” you asked as you attempted to brush the hair away with your fingers, some getting in your mouth. 

Arthur shrugged, “Just wanted to get some time with you.” he smiled. 

“What a gentleman,” you giggled as you leaned your side into him, “I’ll never say no to time with you.” 

You two continued to walk, now holding hands while you swung your arms up as a child would. Arthur just watched you as you would say things like, ‘Arthur look at this’, or ‘Arthur look at that’, ‘Look what I found’. He tried to catch up with all you were pointing out, more or less just nodding along even when he had no idea what you were talking about. 

You let go of his hand, spotting a crowd of mallard ducks sitting on the sand - you quickly discarded your shoes as you left them in the sand. You let out a small giggle when Arthur just shook his head, smirking at you as you ran to chase the ducks. They let out loud quacks as they spooked, flying away before you could get too close. 

You laughed loudly as you felt Arthurs arms from behind wrapping around you, lifting you up and spinning in circles as you both laughed. 

“Put me down you maniac!” you laughed out, smacking his arm playfully. He set you down moments later, laughing. 

You turned around to face him, a smile so wide it hurt your face. You wrapped your arms around his neck, leaning up kissing him passionately. He gladly returned it, running his tongue over your bottom lip before you opened it, your tongues battling against each other it felt like sparks. You giggled against his lips as you nipped his tongue playfully before biting his bottom lip and pulling it towards you gently. He chuckled as he looked down at you, kissing you once again as he put his hands on your hips, squeezing them teasingly. 

You were slightly interrupted by the sounds faint sounds of Dutch’s voice in the distance, calling Arthurs name. You groaned softly, you didn’t want him to go do whatever job Dutch had in mind now. You had been at Clements Point for about two weeks now and you felt like you’ve hardly seen Arthur since you got here, Dutch making him and the others go on countless jobs. By the time they’d return you’d be asleep in the cot. 

“C’mon,” Arthur took your hand, you expected him to start walking back towards the camp, but instead he made a cut to the heavy forest in front of the shore. “He can get someone else.” 

You were surprised but grateful that Arthur wanted to spend the day with you, regardless if Dutch was looking for him or not. You followed Arthur who was pushing through heavy branches and plants in front, clearly trying to find a good spot to hide from Dutch. You felt like a teenager again hiding from jobs. 

Arthur suddenly stopped as he found a spot that pleased him, you hadn’t seen it yet since you were behind him and his towering figure. 

“Huh, this is a nice spot!” He said, moving aside so you could see. 

There was a little pond in the middle of the forest, surrounded by trees and different types of flora. It was beautiful! The water looked clean enough, only squirrels and toads running around the edge. 

You gasped softly feeling yourself smile. “Wow, it’s beautiful! Why haven’t we found this before?!” you giggled as you stepped closer to the pond, looking in the water. 

Arthur shrugged his shoulders as he smiled, glancing at the water himself before he had an idea. 

“Look’s deep enough to swim.” he said, a clear idea in his voice. 

You looked at him with your eyebrow raised. He grinned at you as he removed his hat, tossing it on the grass before starting to work at the buttons of his shirt. You grabbed the bottom of your dress before you remembered something.

“Arthur,” you watched as he shrugged his shirt off and dropped his gun belt, “I don’t have anything but underwear on under my dress.” You were afraid to go swimming if someone saw you, not having your chemise to cover you more. 

He looked at you as he thought for a moment before shrugging again. “So?” he chuckled. 

“What if someone comes?!” 

“I’ll cover you, but we are pretty secluded princess.” he unbuttoned his jeans, not thinking much of the situation. 

You decided to just go for it, besides if you were underwater nobody can see anything, right? You hoped. 

You shrugged as you moved your dress up and over your head, gently setting it on the grass before looking at Arthur who was now just standing there naked, you snorted softly. 

“Oh that’s how we’re doing it?” you giggled, removing your underwear as well. 

He smirked softly as he looked at you, “ladies first!” he motioned towards the pond. 

You rolled your eyes as you nudged him before walking down to the pond, “you just wanna see my behind, I know you, Mister.” 

He followed you as he smirked. You dipped your foot in the water, wasn’t too bad actually quite refreshing. You've decided to go all-in basically jumping from the mud into the water. You giggled as you pushed off the ground, gliding as you turned back to look at Arthur who was following you. It was too deep for you to touch the bottom but not for him, although it was almost up to his collarbones. 

You swam over to him, wrapping your arms around his neck and your legs around his waist, he wrapped his arms around your middle and held you. 

“This is nice,” you smiled at him, splashing some water to get his hair wet. 

“Not too bad, kitten.” he looked at you. 

You noted the nickname as you gasped playfully, raising your eyebrows at him, “I know what that nickname means, sir.” 

Arthur chuckled as he leaned to peck your lips, smirking softly. “Do you now?” 

“I’m not fucking you in the middle of a pond, Arthur!" 

He furrowed his eyebrows slightly, poking out his bottom lip, "Why not? We've never done it in a pond." 

"Uh, yeah, there's probably a good reason for that." you laughed shaking your head. 

He just huffed softly, you couldn't help but giggle and peck his lips as you rolled your eyes. "Mm, if only we weren't in the pond... I'd let you do whatever you wanted to me." you teased him in a seductive voice, biting his lip.

He groaned softly, getting tired of your teasing that had been happening lately. You giggled and splashed water in his face, making him shake his hair out, "Hey!" he laughed.

You smiled as you slowly swam away from him, giggling. You felt him splashing behind you, getting your hair soaked. 

"Not fair!" you shouted at him, giggling. 

"How? You did it first!" he protested, splashing you again. 

You grinned back at him before swimming to the edge of the pond, hoisting yourself up you sat on the edge, dangling your feet in the water. Arthur swam over to you, resting his elbows on your knees as he looked up at you. 

"We've never done it outside of a pond, either." he stated, raising an eyebrow up at you. 

"Arthur Morgan I am a lady." you teased, pointing your nose in the air dramatically. 

He snorted, "Uh-huh, sure. Need I remind you you're not?" 

"How would you do that?" You questioned, knowing damn well what he meant. 

Arthur smirked as he got out of the water, standing up beside you. "C'mon," he said holding his hand down to help you up.

You took it, standing up as you wrapped your warms around your chest, "We didn't bring towels," you frowned. 

Arthur just shrugged, leaning down to grab his shirt and handed it to you. "Just put this on." 

You wrung out your braid the best you could before putting on Arthurs shirt, buttoning it up as it stuck slightly to your wet skin. 

He smirked at you, he loved seeing you in his shirt, especially now when you were still wet and had nothing on the bottom half. 

He leaned down and grabbed your dress, putting it out on the grass as a makeshift blanket. 

"Get down," he said, looking at you with his dark smirk on his devilishly handsome face. "Hands and knees."

You bit your lip, nodding softly as you turned around, kneeling down on your dress before putting your hands on the grass in front of you. You were in full view of him. 

"Somehow you bein' like this in the middle of a forest isn't so ladylike," he chuckled darkly coming down to kneel behind you. "Is it?" 

You huffed softly in response, looking back over your shoulder at him. 

"Yet you still listened to me," he smirked, slapping your ass roughly, you yelped out. "Good girl." he chuckled.

Arthur sloppily licked his hand, moving it down to your core adding some extra slick. You whimpered at the contact. 

"I don't think getting fucked outside like this is very ladylike either, but here we are." He said deeply as he pushed the tip of himself into you, making you moan softly. 

You let out a gasp as he pushed himself slowly into you, making sure that you felt every inch entering your body. You arched your back more as you felt him bottom out in you. No matter the countless times you two had been intimate it still surprised you how much he would stretch you out, especially after an almost two-week period of not having sex. It was almost uncomfortable as you had to get used to him again. It didn't help that he was beyond horny, more or less your own fault as the last few days you'd been teasing him to no end. You can't say you didn't see this coming. 

"This is what happens when you keep teasing me, kitten." he growled as he moved in you painfully slow. You whimpered loudly, wiggling your hips trying to make him go faster. 

Maybe you were ovulating or something of that nature because you were way more sensitive than usual, not that it was a bad thing you just wished you knew that before you began teasing him days before. 

Your hands were gripping at the grass, pulling it out of the dirt forcefully. Arthur was speeding up his thrusts, pushing your hips down to the ground as he slammed into you forcefully. You did something between a moan and a yelp, making him chuckle behind you in satisfaction. 

"D-daddy!" you moaned as he drove himself into you hungrily, "fuck!" he grabbed your arms, folding them behind your back as he kept them there, plowing into you as your body moved forward with every movement. 

He groaned loudly, biting his lip as he slowed down once more, trying to make himself last longer. "Ride me." he said sternly as he pulled out of you, you moaned at the emptiness inside you.

You sat up, straddling him as he laid back on the ground, grabbing his member as you positioned yourself above it, sinking down slowly. 

"My God," he groaned out as he gripped your hips again, pulling you down onto his cock roughly. "Don't you dare fuckin' tease me." he growled at you. 

You bit down on your lip as you placed your hands on his chest, whimpering out as you began to move up and down swiftly on him. His hands moved from your hips to your ass, gripping it as you bounced on him. 

"Mm I love riding you daddy," you purred, "you're so big." 

He moaned watching you, slapping your ass everyone in a while, making you giggle. 

You gasped as he gripped your ass harder, now moving you on him faster as he thrust up to meet your hips. You scratched your nails down his chest as he pounded you from underneath, all you could do was yell out 'daddy' as he used you for his pleasure. 

You had your eyes closed as you leaned back, moving your hand down between you as you began to rub your clit harshly. Making Arthur moan as he watched you. 

Neither of you had noticed that someone was there, both of you too loud to hear the cracking branches or calls. 

It wasn't until you had opened your eyes to look down at Arthur that you saw them straight in front of you. 

Kieran stood there with his mouth wide open. You screamed as you smacked Arthurs chest, getting his attention. He stopped and furrowed his eyebrows, moving his head to look behind him. 

"What the fuck!?!" He yelled, clearly as shocked as you and Kieran were. 

Kieran just stood there still, shaking his head as he wasn't sure what in the hell to even say. "I-uh, I- Dutch sent me ... to look for you and.." he just shook his head again. 

You hid your face in your hands as Arthur yelled at him to get lost, hearing Kieran yelp slightly and jog back the way he came from. 

Arthur looked up at you and couldn't help but begin to laugh, you moved your hands from your face and looked down at him, shaking your head before laughing as well. 

"Let's just go back before Dutch sends out the whole camp," you giggled as you leaned down to peck his lips before climbing off him. "I'll make up for it later." You smirked at him.

He nodded in agreement. Not sure how to feel about being caught in the act. The two of you could definitely agree upon that you were glad it wasn't Dutch himself, you'd never hear the end of it then.


	13. All I Want Is You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flashback timeeee.   
> This chapter is inspired by one of my favourite songs, "All I Want Is You by Barry Louis Polisar."   
> Thanks for reading!

‘If you were a river in the mountains tall, the rumble of your water would be my call.’   
‘If you were the winter, I know I’d be the snow, just as long as you’re with me when the cold winds blow.’

You were terrified as your eyes shifted back and forth around the camp, bodies of men sprawled out on the grass, slowly turning the green to red. You were huddled against a wagon with your knees firmly pressed against your chest, eyes prickling as you tried to swallow down the thick lump resting in your throat. This was the first time you’d really saw anything like this up close, let alone be right in the middle of it. You had only been in the gang a few months, though you were only fifteen you had learnt to grow up quick. Little experience with a gun left you defenceless when a random group of men had ridden up to camp, demanding Hosea and Dutch come with them. Arthur was having none of it. 

“Oi, you think yer tough, boy?” One man sneered at Arthur. Arthur was only seventeen but already towered over men who were much older than him, already becoming used to the extra work that came with being a tall, strong young man. 

Arthur didn’t give an answer, only responding by drawing his pistol and firing a shot at the man. Making the rest of the men join in, pretty soon it was becoming a firing range. Dutch yelled at you and the other women to take cover, you gladly listened. 

After what felt like an eternity of gunfire, it had stopped. Everyone was used to it but you, making you feel slightly naive and embarrassed that you probably looked like such a coward. 

All was said and done as the men made work of looting the bodies before throwing them in the woods nearby, letting the animals have at them. The ladies had long got out of their cover and proceeded to go on with their evening, all except you. Still leaning against the wagon you didn’t want to move out of fear some sort of bullet would be flying at your head. 

The sound of your heartbeat in your ears was interrupted by Arthurs footsteps walking towards you. You hugged your knees tighter against you, he was the last person you wanted to see you like this - a scared little girl. 

To say you were sweet on the boy was putting it lightly. You couldn’t ever stop looking at him from across the camp, trying to always sit by him near the fire, following him around sometimes when you were bored. He didn’t mind at all, in fact, he loved it. He had developed a crippling crush on you the moment you had been brought back to camp with Hosea. You two had got along right away and from that moment Dutch and Hosea knew that their son had found his girl. He was older, but only by two years - that was still enough for you to feel like a child around him. It didn’t help that he was tall enough you had to look up at him, he thought it was cute although you would disagree. 

“You aight?” he asked, sitting down beside you on the ground, concerned that you hadn’t moved yet. 

You didn’t look at him as you felt your cheeks turning hot from embarrassment, you shrugged softly. 

He shifted to move closer to you, gently putting a hand on your arm - it made your heart race even more. You lessened your grip on your knees softly as you felt yourself relax ever so. 

“It takes some gettin used to, I know. But you’re okay, see? Nothing got ya.” he said softly as he squeezed your arm reassuringly. 

You looked at him for a moment and nodded, still feeling like a scared child. You chewed on your lip, staring at the patch of grass between you two. 

“I’ll protect you, you know that Y/N.” he spoke again trying to get your attention. 

“Will you?” you asked softly, your stomach felt warm and fuzzy, cheeks now burning from the protectiveness of your silly crush. 

He chuckled softly, “Of course, you know how I feel about cha.” 

You nodded as you let your knees go, scooting closer to Arthur as you hugged his arm. “I don’t want you to feel like you always have to be with me to protect me,” you said, glancing up at him. 

He leaned into you softly as he smiled, “Y/N, I hate to break it to you but I always wanna be with you.” 

You raised your eyebrow at him as you let out a small giggle. “Oh?” you nudged him gently. “Tell me more.” you teased. 

He rolled his eyes gently and let out a chuckle, “I’ve told you this before,” he stated, “People may call me a fool for being so young but I just have a feelin’ yer gonna be stuck with me forever.” he looked at you, something about his eyes made all your previous anxiety leave your body. 

It was true that you both had this instinct feeling about it. People say when you know you know and well you two just knew. Young, yes but you two weren’t in any rush - knowing that Dutch and Hosea wanted to keep you two in line for a few more years. (That obviously didn’t work the next year with your pregnancy, but they tried). 

You smiled at him warmly as he moved his arm to wrap it around you, “we just fit together.” you giggled. He nodded as he smiled. 

“If you were a castle, I’d be your moat.” he kissed your head softly. 

“If you were an ocean, I’d learn to float.” you joined, leaning into his muscular side. 

Arthur chuckled as he let out a content sigh, your heartbeat calmed down as you closed your eyes while cuddling into his side. 

“You feel better now?” He asked softly.

“Yes, thank you.” 

“Should get to bed then, sleep will do you good after this.” he nudged you to prompt to you get up off the ground. 

“Will you stay with me?” you asked as you stood up, making slight grabby hands at him as he stood up himself, looking down at you. 

“Course, always.” he smiled as he took your hand leading you to your tent, you couldn’t help but feel like you two were the only ones in camp - even though that was far from true. 

“Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.” you sang softly, walking beside him. He laughed softly as he opened the flaps of your tent, letting you go in first. 

“Remind me to teach you how to use a gun,” he said as you pulled your blankets back, “if it’ll help you feel better.” 

You nodded, “As long as you’re okay with it.” 

“Long as you don’t shoot at me, girl.” He chuckled, smirking at you. 

“I can’t make any promises, maybe not anytime soon but if you get on my nerves in the years to come you better watch out mister.” You made finger guns at him as he just shook his head, rolling his eyes.

Little did you two know that your assumptions were right, forever was definitely how long you were going to be together. Twelve years strong and you haven’t shot him, yet.


	14. Raise A Little Hell

“Come fishing with us, Arthur.” Hosea smiled as he stood outside of Dutch’s tent. 

“You an Dutch?” Arthur asked as a smirk crawled across his face, “You tryna re-live the old days huh?” he teased. 

“Oh c’mon,” Dutch rolled his eyes before giving Hosea a look, “You’d be hurt if you found out we didn’t ask you to come.” He nudged Arthurs shoulder as he walked down towards the shore. 

Arthur chuckled as he followed the men down to the shore of Flat Iron Lake, at least it would be taking his mind off the Braithwaite and Gray jobs he had currently been out on. Running errands for the damn Gray boy, though he accepted to do it considering he knew all too well what young love was like. 

You had been stitching up some shirts by the fire when you realized that Arthur had come back from being out, you were going to go and talk to him about what all this Braithwaite and Gray stuff was about until he was walking off with his two fathers. 

You huffed softly as you stood up from your seat, following behind them as you practically jogged to catch up with Arthurs long legs. They hadn’t noticed you’d followed till you spoke up. 

“Where ya goin?” you asked, still holding the shirt you were currently patching. 

“Takin’ your boy fishing, Y/N.” Hosea smiled at you as he patted Arthurs back. Fishing? Was he trying to remember what it was like when Arthur was younger? 

“Oh, okay,” you smiled as you shrugged, “Just wondering is all.” you looked at Arthur who just smiled at you. 

“Don’t worry dear, we just wanna fish.” Dutch chuckled as he smiled at you before nodding at Hosea to help him get the boat out. 

You went over to Arthur and smiled, “I was just gonna come ask how your day has been, but it can wait.” you giggled softly, leaning up to peck his lips. 

He smiled and pecked your lips back before pulling you closer by your waist, you giggled as you smacked his chest jokingly with the shirt you were holding. 

“Hey, you can do that later, go fish with the old men.” you winked at him, he chuckled softly. 

“We heard that!” Dutch looked over at you two, raising his eyebrow specifically at you. 

You grinned at him before patting Arthur’s arm, walking back to your spot at the campfire. Arthur watched you as you walked away before Hosea whistled at him to get in the boat. 

“Where’s Dad going?” Joseph asked you as you returned to the fire. 

“Fishing.” you smiled at him before sitting down again, returning your attention to the stitching of the shirt. 

“Why didn’t they ask me?” Joesph frowned softly, finger lazily circling around in the dirt. 

“Oh honey, it would be boring with all their adult talk,” you laughed softly, shaking your head. “You can go fishing later, hm? Maybe ask Grandpa Hosea to take you out again?” 

He nodded, sighing softly before standing up as he scratched the back of his neck. “I’m bored.” 

You laughed softly as you saw Susan’s head whip back in the direction she heard those words coming from. Did someone dare say they were bored on her watch? No time for that. She waltzed over to the fire, motioning with her finger for Joesph to come to her, he looked at you as you just smirked softly. You had told him before not to say those words unless he wanted chores to come, now he had to do them on Susan’s account. 

You paid your attention back to the shirt once again, swiftly stitching the needle and thread through the fabric as you hummed softly. Tilly came to sit beside you, she looked almost concerned. 

“You alright?” you asked her as you finished your stitch.

"How hasn't that man died yet?" Tilly asked you as she shook her head softly, glancing over at Silas who was still against a tree. 

"Arthur thinks Micah is sneaking him food just to make Arthur mad, seems like something he'd do." you huffed. Micah always loved to stir shit up especially with Arthur. Even though this was the man who kicked your son Micah still helped him out just out of spite. 

Silas still loved to make comments to you even when he was starving to death he still somehow had the nerve in him. 'Just wait till I get outta these ropes.' he'd say to you, which would be threatening if there was a way he'd get out. Arthur resented him for saying these things to you, his blood would boil at the thought of anyone saying less than pure things to you but him. 

“He’s been around for a while now, what’re they gonna do with him?” She asked you as you folded the stitched shirt, setting it beside you. 

You shrugged, sighing softly as you looked over at Silas, biting the inside of your cheek. “John said they’d probably just wait till he’s weak enough to not be able to do anything then they were just going to drop him somewhere.” 

“He’s sure weak, but if Arthur really thinks Micah is doing something to help him then he should talk to him.” she suggested. 

You snorted softly, giving her a look as she just rolled her eyes, knowing what you were going to say. 

“Tilly, you know those two don’t talk much out. Micah’s an ass and Arthur is stubborn as a rock.” 

She laughed, “Yeah, yeah, I know. Maybe you should talk to Micah then?” 

“Right yeah, that will go well.” you shook your head as you stood up, grabbing the shirt from off the log to take it back to Lenny’s tent. 

“You never know till you try.” Tilly smiled at you, you just nodded and laughed softly. 

“I’ll try then.” you smiled as you walked off to Lenny’s tent. You knew Micah wouldn’t listen to you but it was better than Arthur and him getting into some spat. 

You set Lenny’s newly stitched shirt on his cot before heading over to Pearson’s wagon to get something to eat. Speaking of the devil, Micah Bell himself was leaning against a tree behind the wagon, twiddling a stick. You grabbed an apple before taking a deep breath, time to raise a little hell. 

You walked over to him as you thought of exactly what to say not to get him riled up at you. Part of you didn't care if you got him worked up or not, he was the one who was messing with the man who hurt your child. Why should you be careful not to be too harsh to him? 

"Mrs. Morgan," he smirked at you as you stood a few feet in front of him, biting into your apple. 

"Are you sneaking Silas food?!" you asked, deciding to just cut to the chase. 

"Silas? Who?" he sneered at you from under his smirk, clearly knowing exactly what you were getting on about. 

"You know exactly who," you pointed your finger over at the prisoner, "are you giving him food?!" 

"It ain't me, babe." he flicked some of the wood from his stick at you, making you furrow your eyebrows. 

"Well I know damn well nobody else is, nobody likes that bastard because of what he did." you could feel your blood pressure rising, how you'd love to just stick that knife in him. 

He just continued to smirk at you under that ugly mustache, "Mans gotta eat." he just raised his arms mocking a surrender. 

"So you are doing it! What is wrong with you? Did you forget that man kicked my son!" you shouted at him, gaining more attention. 

He just stared blankly at you, clearly not amused that you were making a scene. Why wouldn't you make a scene? He's keeping this evil man alive. 

"Just wait till Arthur finds out his suspicions were right." you growled at him. 

"Oh, your big bad outlaw won't do shit. He's a tall tree with a small shadow, don't you remember?" he snickered. 

You had no idea what he was going on about, nor did you care at this point. You got what you wanted out of him. 

"He's more the man than you are if you can even call yourself a man." you spat at him, nostrils flaring. 

"You don't scare me, Y/N. What do you do around the camp? Sew, chase your son around and fuck Arthur out in the woods!" 

Your eyes went wider, how'd he hear about that? 

"Ohh, you thought people didn't know? That O'Driscoll boy talks. Heard you were riding him like a horse out there." he smirked, raising an eyebrow at you. 

You rolled your eyes hard enough you'd probably have a headache later. 

"Maybe if your husband taught your son how to be less of a pansy he wouldn't have gotten beat up." Micah said coldly as he shrugged his shoulders. 

You couldn't believe your ears, did he really just say your son deserved it? Before you knew what you were doing you were lunging at Micah, swinging your arms at his face. John saw what was happening and rushed over, grabbing you and pulling you back before Micah did anything. 

Micah just laughed at you, raising his hands up in defence before taking a few steps back. "Easy there, don't hurt yourself there." he snickered. 

You growled as you tried to get out of John's grip, Charles came over and motioned for Micah to just walk away. He smirked at you before turning around towards the horses, probably off to go to a saloon or shoot up a town, you never knew. 

John let you go once Micah started to walk, both him and Charles watching you like hawks to make sure you didn't run after him. 

You threw the apple that was still in your hand, it splat right on Micah's back with a thud, earning him to turn around and glance at you for a moment. 

"You're really gonna be up a creek, cowboy! Just you wait!" you shouted at him, crossing your arms over your chest. 

"Nice shot, Y/N." Charles laughed softly. You just sighed softly as you walked back to your tent, sitting down on the cot as you kicked at the grass. 

"Ma?" Joesph said softly, coming to check on you. 

You looked at him and smiled softly, patting the spot beside you. "I'm aight, come sit baby." 

He came to sit beside you on the cot, wrapping his arms around you as you smiled. You didn't like your son seeing you like this but frankly, at this moment you didn't care, Micah was an ass. 

"Can I throw apples at people too?" Joesph asked quietly, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. 

You laughed and shook your head, "Only if it's at Micah, I'm sure your father will help you with that." you smiled as you kissed his head. 

"A nice bonding activity." Joesph chuckled. 

"Your father would think so, probably would be his favourite." you smirked, knowing damn well that Arthur would try to hit Micah with a whole apple tree if he could.


	15. Assumptions

Arthur had returned not too long after along with Hosea and Dutch, all laughing and singing (very off-key, you might add). None of them had any idea what they had missed which was probably for the best at the moment. You didn’t want to ruin Arthurs mood, nothing made you more content than seeing Arthur enjoying time with his family. Yes, you were family obviously but he had a special bond with those two men indeed. 

You were in your tent still, Joseph beside you as you two read your books side by side. Joseph must’ve gotten his love of reading from you because as much as Arthur loved to write and draw, you’d hardly seen him pick up a novel. 

Meanwhile, you always remembered loving to read even as a little girl, your father, God rest his soul, would sit down with you in front of your fire and read countless books. You missed your parents terribly every passing day. Both had been killed when your cabin had gotten robbed, even though you didn’t understand why someone would want to rob you when you hardly had much. Your father kept insisting that there wasn’t much in the house but the men who intruded didn’t understand his accent. Your mother was American but your father had come from Scandinavia, Swedish was his first language meaning he had a heavy accent that could be hard to understand. They paid no mind in trying to understand what he was saying, instead they raised their pistols and put holes in your parents. You and your older brother had hidden in an old wardrobe, the intruders unaware that you were in there. Once they left and you two had emerged the damage was already done, there wasn’t anything you could do. The image still burned in your mind if you thought too hard about it. 

You and your brother had set off on your own until he had gotten a job in a coal mine, leaving you to fend for yourself. You two still would send each other letters but you don’t remember the last time you had seen him face to face. 

You didn’t want Joesph to ever have to experience losing his parents like that and that is why you were always so worried when Arthur would go out on those horrid jobs for hours on end. You weren’t a religious person but you prayed to whoever would listen for him to return back safe and he always would. Although that never stopped you from worrying, anything can change in a second and you were well aware of that. 

Arthur entered the tent as he smiled at the sight of you and Joesph just lounging together while reading. He gently scooted Joesph over more against you, laying down on the cot too, barely fitting as half of him seemed to be over the edge. You glanced over at him from your book and smiled before returning to the page, too deep in a good chapter to put it down right now. 

Joseph looked at you for a moment, opening his mouth to say something before returning his attention to his own book. Arthur sighed softly as he closed his eyes, clearly content although probably not too comfortable on the edge of the cot. 

“Mom threw an apple at Micah's back!” Joseph blurted out, putting his book over his face. Arthur's eyes shot open as he looked over at you as you looked at Joesph, smacking him lightly with your book as you rolled your eyes. 

“I told you to not tell him!” you laughed softly, wanting to tell Arthur about the events he had missed on your own time. 

“You what?” Arthur asked, slightly smirking at you. 

You sighed, cats outta the bag now, thanks, son. 

“In my defence, I meant to hit his head, but,” you shrugged. 

“Why?” Arthur laughed, disappointed he missed that. 

You glanced at him, chewing on your lip, “Well, your assumptions were right.” 

You saw his eyebrows furrow as he understood what assumptions you were talking about. His jaw clenched slightly. 

“Before you do anything,” you interrupted his raging thoughts, “he’s gone, I mean not for good I’m just not sure where he rode off to. It’s probably best if you just wait for him to come back, please.” you leaned over Joesph slightly and patted his hand. 

“Oh, I think I know exactly where he is,” Arthur mumbled, “he has a lil camp he goes to sometimes.” 

You could tell he was ready to get up and hop on Ghosts’ saddle, riding off to go find Micah and beat him to a pulp. As much as you wanted that as well you thought it would be nice to be in camp for a few days without Micah. Arthur finally agreed to stay when you convinced him how nice it would be to have some time away from Micah in the camp, not having to worry about what he’s doing around here. 

When Arthur had calmed down you returned back to reading, Joseph must’ve been tired of being smushed between you two cause he announced that he was going off to find Jack before crawling off the cot and exiting the tent. 

Arthur moved closer to lay beside you, resting his head on your chest as you read, you had moved a hand to run it through his hair, gently massaging his scalp as he closed his eyes again. You read a few more pages before you felt your own eyes begin to get slightly heavy, even though it was the middle of the afternoon you were sleepy, didn’t help that Arthur had dozed off as you were playing with his hair. Gently snoring while rested on your chest, you giggled at the sight. He wasn’t so big and scary when he was with you, never was really. 

You tried to fight the heaviness your eyes felt, widening your eyes to make you continue focusing on your book but it didn’t work. Before you could catch yourself you were dozing off, book in your hand now slipping out of your grip, dropping and hitting Arthur in the face. You didn’t notice until he groaned softly and moved his head.

“Ow,” he groaned, moving his head so that his face was basically resting right between your boobs. 

You opened your eyes slightly, glancing down at him, “Comfy?” 

He nodded softly, giving you a thumbs up making you laugh.

Before you could drift off again Karen had entered your tent, she wasn’t usually one to announce her presence before coming in. 

“Am I interrupting?” she smirked while raising an eyebrow as she looked at the two of you, Arthurs face still buried in your chest. 

You rolled your eyes, “No, why?” 

“The lot of us have decided to have a party,” she smiled, wiggling her eyebrows in excitement. 

“A party? Why?” you asked, giggling at her expression. 

“Cause silly, Micahs gone! Gotta celebrate that while we can!” She grinned, a bottle of beer was already in her hand. 

Arthur lifted his head up, looking at her, “Well finally they’re starting to get some sense into them.” he chuckled. Getting up off you before pulling you up with him. 

“You deserve a few drinks after throwing an apple at the bastard,” Arthur smirked at you. 

You just rolled your eyes as you let out a giggle, shrugging your shoulders softly. You could never say no to a party, especially if Micah wasn’t around.


	16. A Health To The Company

The sun had set not long ago as an orange tint still rested in the sky, spirits were high all around - who knew that everyone loved a party on account of Micah not being around? You weren’t one bit surprised. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, Bill, Hosea, Charles and Lenny were playing poker at one of the tables. Jack and Joesph were playing their own game of cards although you had no idea what game it was because the rules seemed to change every round. 

All others were at the campfire, either sitting, dancing or singing. Uncle kept adding more wood to the fire, Arthur telling him that next time he has the chop the wood if he’s going to waste it like that. Javier had his guitar out as Sean lead some shanties, Karen happily perched on his lap as they drunkenly belted out songs. Sean’s accent became thicker the more he drank, which you found hilarious tonight for some reason. 

You were sat between Arthur and John, linking arms with both of them as you swayed along to the singing that was happening. Tilly watched as you swayed and giggled, herself feeling the effects of the booze she had consumed. She stood up from her seat and slightly staggered over to you, pulling you up and linking her arm with yours, spinning around in circles as the two of you squealed out a laugh. 

“Swing yer partner!” Tilly laughed, switching your arms. 

Mary-Beth and Karen soon joined in with you two, Abigail and Sadie clapped along as you girls became quite the drunken entertainment for the rest. 

You girls slowly danced and clapped your way away from the fire as Dutch and Hosea went into a drunken rant about the new job they had gotten tips about, something about moonshine - it was boring and you girls didn’t care to hear about it right now. You grabbed a few more bottles of whiskey as you girls made your way towards the horses, nesting by the campfire that was lit there. It gave the six of you privacy from the rest of the camp to talk about whatever you wanted. Over the time spent together you all had become quite good friends, it was a bummer that Molly didn’t feel like she should join, too good for the ordinary camp girls now - according to her. 

You settled for leaning against Sadies legs as she sat on a crate, the ground seeming more comfortable when you’re drunk - she didn’t mind as she just played with your long locks. You had handed out the whiskey you had picked up on the way over, something you’d all most likely regret in the morning but that was a problem for the future of you. 

As you all sat around the fire, watching it roar above into the night sky Karen cleared her throat dramatically. Oh boy, here we go. Now what?

“So! Mrs. Morgan,” she started, you rolled your eyes, “what is it about this little rendezvous you and Arthur had the other day?” she wiggled her eyebrows as she asked, making the girls giggle.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you gave her a smirk as you took a swig of your whiskey, continuing to loosen yourself up. 

“I think you do.” Abigail laughed softly, folding her arms across her chest. 

“Did everyone hear about this?” you asked as you cocked your eyebrow, they nodded while giggling.

You couldn’t blame Karen for bringing it up considering last time the six of you were around this fire Karen was being teased about her and Sean’s little moment in John’s tent. 

“Well, what about it?” you laughed, not sure what exactly they had all heard. 

“Kieran caught you practically screaming, thinking you were getting murdered!” Tilly snorted, you just rolled your eyes and giggled. 

“In my defence, I wasn’t trying to give him a show, we didn’t hear him.” you took a swig of your whiskey. 

“You two sure have been goin’ at it, hm?” Sadie laughed as she played with your hair, teasingly tugging at it. “There a reason?” 

“A reason?” you thought for a moment, “Well, we have thought about having another kid.” You shrugged. 

“Oh, that’s wonderful!” Mary-Beth clapped her hands lightly, smiling at you. 

You smiled softly before opening your mouth to speak, the whiskey catching up to you once again, “Yeah, only…” you trailed off, not sure how to talk about it. 

You hadn’t told anyone, not even Arthur about your aspirations to maybe someday leave the gang, living as much of a normal life that was possible. You loved the gang but couldn’t help but understand when Arthur said that the ways of outlaws and gunslingers were coming to an end. You knew Abigail felt the same way, wanting a shot at a life outside of the camp. 

“Only?” Abigail asked, her eyes pinned on you like she knew what you were going to say. Probably had a notion. 

You chewed your lip, the whiskey making you not so shy about talking of the dreams you had for your family. 

“I don’t always wanna be stuck in a camp, haven’t any of you thought about leaving before?” you asked. 

They nodded their heads slowly, clearly thinking about their own aspirations. 

“I love the gang, I love the family. I just don’t know how much longer we can keep running like this and do I really want to bring another kid into this kinda life?” You stared into the fire, hoping none of them would take your words the wrong way. 

“I’d love to live in a nice cabin near the lake, not having to worry about running.” Tilly smiled. 

“Civilization would be nice every once and a while!” Mary-Beth agreed, Karen nodded along enthusiastically. 

“I just haven’t talked to Arthur about it,” you glanced back over your shoulder to see him laughing along with John about something. “I’m not sure how he’d take that.” 

“Oh, Y/N,” Karen started, “Arthur loves you too much to let you go without him. He knows that getting out sooner or later would be the best, for all of us.” 

You nodded, shrugging your shoulders again softly as you knew she was right. There was always talk around the camp about how times are changing and sooner or later people are going to have to face those facts. Dutch knew that too. 

It wasn't like you wouldn't see each other again, there was always sending letters, going on trains, boats. You didn't want to leave your friends so that is what more or less held you back from talking to Arthur about it. But, if another child was going to be brought into the world you didn't want them to always have to be moving and on the run with the gang, worrying along with you and Joesph about where their father is and what awful job he's doing. 

"You two do make cute kids," Sadie laughed softly. 

"We try!" you giggled, teasingly nudging her leg.

"Oh, we know you try- we hear it." she answered back, laughing. 

"Not as bad as Karen and Sean!" Mary-Beth smirked. 

"Hey!" Karen piped up, laughing. 

"Karen you definitely deserve a prize for sleeping with Sean," you joked, "I can barely talk to the guy without him annoying me." you gave her a wink, she giggled. 

"Well, at least we haven't been caught in the woods, Y/N." Karen gave you a shit-eating grin. 

She got you there. Although being caught in the woods by some past O'Driscoll boy was better than sleeping with that Irish loudmouth, in your opinion. 

"Ladies," you heard Arthur's voice behind you when did stumble over? "Y/N." 

You smiled up at him as the rest of the girls greeted him, he held out his hand motioning for you to stand up. 

You stood up slowly, a mixture of the whiskey in your body and the bottle currently in your hand. You giggled as you had to slightly lean on him for support. 

"Yes?" you looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Can I help you?" 

"He wants to go in the woods!" Karen shouted, laughing at herself. 

Arthur rolled his eyes and chuckled as he took your hand, leading you back to your tent. You looked behind you and waved drunkenly at the girls still around the fire. You two went back to the tent both drunkenly laughing at each other, Arthur shouting something at Lenny as he saw him heading to his own cot - Lenny complained about getting flashbacks from their drunken escapade. 

That night Arthur and you just sat in your shared tent, drunkenly telling random stories while finishing off your bottle of whiskey. It was nice to have alone time with him, not even in an intimate way. He told you about the moonshine job Dutch got a tip on before you both passed out on the ground of your tent, cot lying empty. 

In the morning Joesph went to check on you two, finding you both still on the ground. He grabbed two blankets and laid them on top of his parents, laughing at their state. 

"Two drunk peas in a pod." John said to him as he saw Joesph exiting the tent laughing. "Better get the coffee going before your mother has a fit." he teased Joseph. 

Just as they were about to walk towards Pearson's wagon Arthur emerged from the tent, covering his eyes from the hot sun that was clearly making his head pound even more. 

"Morgan!" John laughed softly, "Good, you're up. We have that moonshine job today." 

Arthur gagged slightly, shaking his head. "Oh God, don't mention moonshine right now." he groaned. 

"Moonshine." John drawled out, smirking. Arthur gagged again.


	17. How?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! :)   
> I am so sorry this chapter is a little short, it's more or less a little blip into the brain of Mr.Morgan.   
> I've been having some writer's block lately, hopefully, it will end soon though. Thanks for reading!!!

How can you love someone you’ve never met? Arthur would often ask himself this when he would look at your growing belly, his heart and admiration for his unborn child growing each day as well. 

He didn’t know the colour of their eyes, so how could he already imagine what it felt like to look into them? 

How did this little being that shares the heartbeat with yours capture him already? Was this what it was like to be a father? 

He was terrified. He didn’t know how to raise a child, he had learnt nothing from his own father but how to drink yourself to death. Lately, it had been harder and harder for him to wrap his head around this. As he watched your bump form it meant that it was one less day, one less hour, one less minute until his child would be brought into the world. Being a father had never crossed his mind before, he saw what the world was like, he remembered parts of his childhood - if you could call it that, that he didn’t want someone else to relive. He had seen how hard it was to have a family, to keep them safe and how hard it is to know if you’re making the right decisions. Before he had met you he had decided that he didn’t need a family, although he longed for one, he had heard that having nothing was better sometimes. 

Until he had met you. Although he didn’t plan on it moving so quickly, getting you pregnant as a young teenager was not his intention. He knew that a young child in the gang would make it harder, the money, the food, running from jobs. A child costed money, cost the teenage years, made you grow up faster than you should’ve. 

That day you first became a part of the camp you had captured him without even realizing it. Sure, he had seen girls out in the town that he thought were pretty, their giggles and comments would make him turn a shade of pink. But, the girls in the town never looked like you, didn’t carry themselves the way you did, more than likely wouldn’t be able to come back with wittier comebacks than his own. Was love, at first sight, a real thing? He didn’t think so until that day. How could someone change his outlook on life so quickly? 

As Joesph grew so did the realization that camp life probably wasn’t the best life for a child. Was camp life really the best for anyone anymore? Time’s were changing, the ways of outlaws and gunslingers were slowly coming to an end. Everyone was well aware of this fact but most decided to ignore it until they couldn’t anymore. There were more honest ways of living now, people were able to live their lives without worrying about law breathing down their necks or where they may run off to next. Arthur could hardly imagine that, imagine not being on the run, not seeing bounty posters of people so near and dear to you. Years ago, before you or Joesph, Arthur would’ve called people living that life “softies” or say “they’re just scared of hard work”. Now he understood that this way of life was more than ideal, especially when times were no longer calling for gangs of cowboys. People who had young families lived that way because it was what benefited them. He wasn’t able to see that before. 

Arthur knew you wanted to get out of this way of living, he knew lots of the gang members wanted the same - even if they weren’t willing to admit it. It was hard to argue with the changing era, the new dawn, new ideas and ways of making a living without robbing or killing. Part of him wanted out too. Although this life was really all he knew, he wanted an honest one, one that would make him and his family proud, one that didn’t involve running from lawmen. It stung but he knew that you weren’t going to be fully relaxed, able to breathe and not worry until he found a way out. How though?

Another child would be another person to worry about while on the run, another one to feed and clothe through money that was stolen or looted. With the law being so hot on Dutch’s trail he knew that the safety of another child would not be guaranteed. Arthur wanted another child, wanted another little human to watch grow, he knew Joesph wanted a sibling. Most importantly he wanted one because he knew that you wanted one, you were an amazing mother and he only hoped that you could see that. It was hard raising Joesph with both of you being so young, but now you both hoped that it would be a bit easier with some experience. Joseph turned out good… he thought? He could be worse, like John when he was a kid. 

There had to be a way to living a more honest life, a way to make everyone happy, a way the gang could split up but still be together. But how?


	18. I Will Wait

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Parts of this chapter were inspired by 'I Will Wait by Mumford & Sons' a classic song!   
> Thanks for reading. ILY.

'Now I'll be bold. As well as strong, and use my head alongside my heart.'  
'And I will wait, I will wait for you.'

Where were you even to begin? Few weeks had passed and much had changed around the camp. Dutch somehow got him, Bill and Arthur deputized in Rhodes, nobody knew how the hell he did it but they seemed to be proud of those badges - like they meant something. The moonshine job had gone well, probably as well as it could considering nobody got killed when they blew up the moonshine hideout in the woods. Hosea was conjuring a plan to sell the moonshine back to the people who they stole it from, how that was going to work… well that was up to Hosea. Silas was “set free”, too weak or tired now that Micah had run off to hide from Arthur, he was dumped in the woods somewhere - hardly alive. You prayed he didn’t somehow come back for revenge. Arthur had kept doing little jobs as the messenger between the Gray boy and his Braithwaite girl. 

Just a few days ago Uncle claimed he had a lead with a wagon full of money or valuables, he failed to realize it was a Cornwall Oil wagon and well I’m sure anyone could figure out how that went. Arthur and the others nearly burning to ash in a barn while hiding, getting shot at and running into the woods for cover, anything new? Not really. Uncle claimed he didn’t know, the guys keep giving him an earful about it, you even gave a few jabs to him about putting your husband in so much danger. 

You hated to see Arthur so tired, so overworked, stressed and still trying to keep it all together for the gang. Everyone would come to him to talk, ask for favours, get him to do all their dirty work. Sure, they always had before too, but with the law, Pinkertons, O’Driscolls and Cornwalls all on their backs, he was more than stressed about it all. He hadn’t been worked this hard in a while and it was clear to see what kind of a toll it was taking on him. He had so much to do and only so many hours in a day. He knew though, he had to provide for the gang, provide for you and Joesph, he had to be strong enough to not crack under the pressure he was always put under. He knew the only way to get out was to use his head, provide what was needed by Dutch, and he knew he had to tell you soon that he was trying his hardest for you. He loved you more than anything and knew that sooner or later you were going to go with or without him. What needed to be done was to be done - now. 

When he did have time to sleep that was all he would do, not bothering to engage in any conversation with you before bed, no cuddling you, no sex. Of course, you knew it wasn’t directed at you, and part of you couldn’t blame him for being so out of it lately. But, you missed him - he wasn’t the same person when he was worked like this. Hardly a shell of his normal silly self around you, instead just a tired shadow. Many could see this, asking you if he was alright to which you would just shrug or sigh, not sure how to respond exactly considering you yourself had hardly gotten anytime alone with him in the last few weeks. 

You had tried to talk to Molly and ask her if she could talk to Dutch, maybe convince him to take some time to just cool down with the jobs, she of course said there wasn’t much she could do - Dutch hardly paying any attention to her either. He was seemingly caught up on this ‘gold’ rumour between the two families in Rhodes, convinced he could scam it out of them. Micah was also on his list, to make him come back and be of help’ to the gang. You had no intentions of being on his search party for Micah, you could care less about that man. How Dutch or anyone for that matter had a soft spot for that guy you didn’t know. To you, and many others, he was evil as plain as the scar on his face.

“Did Dutch just forget what he has done? Nothing but bring horror to the gang, shooting up towns, risking others’ lives, just plain annoying. And for keeping the man who beat my son alive?” You scoffed, ranting at Mary-Beth as you two washed down the tables after dinner.   
“At least we’re not so blind as the others,” she softly shrugged, not knowing exactly what to do about the situation either. 

“I’m not forgetting what I cannot forgive,” you frowned, wringing out the old rag in your hands before setting it in the wash bin, “he is not one of us.” 

Mary-Beth just gave you a small sympathetic smile, knowing the stress of the whole situation right now was also taking its toll on you. You so badly wanted things to go back to ‘normal’, whatever normal was. You missed the high spirits in the camp, you missed your witty husband, you missed not walking on eggshells all the time - having to watch your back for the many people who were out for your gang. 

You sighed softly as you sat at the fire, barely listening to any of the conversations around you. The inside of your cheek was ruined from biting at it anxiously, you could’ve sworn earlier today you almost bit through it as you were deep in worrisome thoughts. As you sat on the old wooden chair, staring into the ambers you felt the familiar twinge in your stomach - your period. Great. Just what was needed right now, more hormones. 

Sighing heavily once again you stood up, slightly stomping over to your tent. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw the girls giving you worrisome looks, you waved your hand to dismiss them for now, you’d talk to them once you weren’t sitting in your blood. For once you were glad Arthur wasn’t in camp, whenever you were beginning your period you would always be extra emotional, causing concern from him - he didn’t need that right now. You groaned softly as you stuffed some wool and cotton in your underwear to hold the bleeding. As much as you didn’t necessarily didn’t want this period to be happening, you knew that it was more than likely a blessing in disguise. Being pregnant right now? Probably not the best idea, for everyone. But, it broke your heart too - you wanted another child, you wanted one before things got worse (you hoped they didn’t, but the way things were going, you couldn’t be sure), you loved being a mother and another kid would make your family happier. Alas, you had to wait. 

You secretly dreamed that this time next year you would be out of this life, that everyone would be. You wanted a nice cabin, or a ranch, with your children and your husband - maybe even a few dogs if Arthur would agree to that. You wanted what was best for everyone which was to move on. Move on from this type of dishonest living, move on to the new ways of the world, the changing era. Nobody said it was going to be easy, you knew for damn sure that it was going to be extremely difficult to adapt, but you dreamt of this - many in the camp did, they wouldn’t all admit it though. You dreamed but didn’t imagine that this would all come true. What if you ended up walking alone in an empty house? Did Arthur want to get out? Part of you knew he wanted to but there was this old voice in your head telling you that this is how he's always been, all he really knew, could he dare leave that? 

You sat on the cot, running your fingers through your hair trying to calm your sprinting thoughts. Closing your eyes you tried to pretend that it was Arthurs fingers running atop your scalp instead of your own, pretending he was calming you, pretending he was here instead of killing himself over these damn jobs. That didn't help as your eyes began to sting, that damn lump travelling to your throat. A few single tears that felt like molten lava dripped down your cheeks, resting near your nose before falling to your lips, the taste of salt burning your tongue. You just wanted Arthur. 

The tears stopped suddenly as you heard the thunder of hooves on the ground coming towards camp, you stood up from the cot as you wiped your eyes hastily with the sleeve of Arthurs jacket you were wearing, you had the habit of changing into his clothes when you missed him. He knew this. You exited the tent as you heard some slight shouting coming from Hosea. 

"Well, then let's get a move-on, son! The sooner we get this moonshine sold the sooner we get the money." Hosea shouted enthusiastically, walking over towards the wagon of stolen moonshine that was now near the clearing of camp. 

You caught Arthur's eye, the look shown on his face made you know that he could tell you were just sobbing. He quickly walked over to you as Hosea shouted something at him before making sure the moonshine was all secure. 

"Y/N," Arthur said softly, "I am so sorry." 

He knew exactly why you were crying, because of the absence of him. He knew you too well for you having to tell him. 

"I just," you sniffed, "I miss you, Arthur. You're never around." You said softly, a sadness in your voice that broke your own heart as well as his. You glanced down at your feet, digging your boots in the grass so he couldn't see the tears forming once again. 

"Y/N, princess, I am so sorry. I will talk to Dutch when I get back." he put his large hand under your chin, lifting it to look up at him. "I love you, I know I'm tired, and I'm horrible at showing you any affection right now but mark my words." he smiled softly at you. 

You smiled softly at him, wiping your eyes again with the sleeve of his jacket. You gave him a hug, his large arms wrapping around you before Hosea shouted at him to hurry up. He frowned softly before giving you a kiss, letting it linger longer than Hosea probably wanted. You smiled at him, feeling a bit better to even have this little talk with him. 

"Wait for me?" He kissed your hand before turning on his heel to walk back to the wagon. 

"I will wait for you." you smiled softly, wrapping his jacket tighter around your figure to keep the feeling of his short hug alive.


	19. Wolf Creek Pass

Arthur had returned hours later, Hosea by his side and the moonshine gone. Tiny splatters of blood were noticeable on both their clothes clear a shootout had happened. Even with Hosea, who you trusted with your own life, Arthur could never get away from the fighting. At the very least, they did get rid of the moonshine which meant that some individuals would be off their backs, for now. Why Arthur agreed to these dumb ideas, becoming a deputy sheriff, blowing up moonshine, trying to sell it back to the people they took it from? And the worst was when he listened to Uncle or Bill’s tipoffs, those always seemed to cause more trouble than they were worth. 

You watched your husband intently as he got off the wagon, saying some things you couldn’t make out, Hosea just nodded and waved him off while he took the wagon who knows where. Probably to sell it. You watched as Arthur sighed before striking a match over his heel, lighting his cigarette. He smoked a lot more when he was stressed and you weren’t sure how many empty packs he must have laid somewhere. You were waiting for him to make his way over to Dutch’s tent, he said he was going to talk to him, so why isn’t he? Dutch sat on his crate outside the tent, reading his fancy book. 

Arthur glanced over at you, not aware that you were staring at him. You crossed your arms over your chest, giving him a look. He knew you were waiting for him to go talk to him, tell him how much he’s been working and would like to see some others pull their weight around here. You saw his foot go to make his way towards you, you just shook your head and jabbed your finger momentarily over at Dutch. ‘Go!’ you mouthed at him, he rolled his eyes softly before walking towards Dutch, finally. 

You followed behind slowly, leaning against a tree trying to look like you weren’t about to listen to their conversation - although you knew that Dutch would catch on that you were more or less making Arthur talk to him, even if you didn’t directly tell Arthur that, he knew that’s what you wanted. Dutch wasn’t a bad guy, you loved him, he practically raised you as well as Arthur and you knew he cared about the gang. Just - sometimes he got in over his head, not realizing how hard he could work people. Especially his workhorse, which was Arthur. 

Arthur cleared his throat softly, “Dutch,” he sat on the other crate near the tent. 

“Arthur! How’re you, my son?” Dutch smiled, putting a pause on his book. 

“Well, that’s what I came to talk about. Have you noticed how many jobs have been goin on?” Arthur watched Dutch as he tried to figure out how to commence this conversation. 

“Lots, Arthur. There is money being made, gold to be scammed from those idiot families... we’re on the path.” 

“Don’t you think some of these other capable men could start bringing some in too?” Arthur sighed softly, trying to keep the conversation light not to upset Dutch. 

“Are you saying you’re tired, Arthur?” Dutch gave him a look, one mixed with concern and slight annoyance. A classic Dutch. 

“Yes. I am, have you seen how much I’ve been runnin’ round, being everyone's errand boy?!” Arthur raised his voice slightly, frustration and tiredness getting the best of him. 

“You’ve been doing well, son. You have brought lots of money in lately. If you’re that tired, you can take a break. You can afford a day or two,” 

Arthur was slightly surprised at Dutch’s response, afford to lose a day or two? Had he been drinking? Arthur furrowed his eyebrows slightly, opening his mouth to say thank you before Dutch continued. 

“That is,” Dutch raised his hand in slight defence, “Someone needs to bring Micah back, find him, he brought in jobs as well.” 

Arthur rolled his eyes, makes sense now. God damn Micah. 

“I ain’t going to get that rat.” Arthur shook his head slightly, his jaw clenching. 

“You know where he’s held up, I know you do.” Dutch almost sounded as if he was pleading. Why did he like Micah so much? Saw something everyone else couldn’t, obviously. Another great member of the Van Der Linde finishing school. 

“You know that ain’t gonna end well, Dutch.” Arthur sounded stern, annoyed. “Send someone else for him, someone who ain’t gonna kill him on site.” 

“Arthur…” Dutch started but was quickly interrupted by you, not being able to just eavesdrop anymore. 

“Micah ain’t good for this gang, Dutch. How do you not see that?” You said, furrowing your eyebrows together in frustration. 

“Y/N,” Dutch said slightly surprised, but not entirely. “I know Micah is different, difficult, but he brings in money too. Money is what we need right now, we all know that.” 

“I am not letting you make Arthur go on a wild goose chase to find him, it ain’t gonna work like that! They’ll beat each other to death.” You felt Arthurs hand on your forearm, a gentle touch reminding you not to get too worked up. 

“Right… Well, Arthur can point on a map where Micah may be, his little getaway camp.” Dutch nodded to himself, aware that Arthur would probably kill Micah. Not to say that he wouldn’t try when Micah came back to camp, but at least there would be people to stop him. 

You glanced over at Arthur, who just nodded softly before standing up to go get his map from the tent. You looked at Dutch, a shadow of frustration still clear on your face. 

"Did you forget what Micah has done to people in this gang? Keeping that Silas alive, taunting my son." You hissed softly, arms folded tightly. 

Dutch stood up as he sighed, resting his hands lightly on your shoulder. "I know. Believe me, I wasn't happy about it either, but he brings in jobs, money. That is what we need most right now, Y/N, money to get us out of this. We keep getting money as we have and we can do whatever we want after, you can leave Micah behind. Though, right now we need him." He squeezed your shoulders in a reassuring manner, smiling softly at you. 

You knew he was right, deep down you knew this. You only wished that Micah wasn't good at finding the jobs, the dirty ones that did bring in some good pay. You would be fine with him if he wasn't so foul all the time, running his mouth at everyone, including your son. 

You nodded your head at Dutch, giving him a tiny smile of slight defeat and understanding. Arthur walked back over with his map, slapping it down on the crate as he examined it. His finger scanned a certain area, his eyes squinting slightly to get a better look at the areas. 

"There," he laid his index finger on the map, "Wolf Creek Pass." 

Dutch stood beside him as he examined it, trying to memorize the layout. He cleared his throat softly and nodded, glancing at Arthur. 

"You sure that's where he is?" Dutch asked.

"Last time I had to find him that's where it was, if he's moved that ain't my business." Arthur shrugged, folding his map up again. 

"I'll talk to Javier or Charles," Dutch nodded at Arthur before giving you a small smile, walking off to find one of the men. 

You sighed as you looked at Arthur who was gently clutching his map, you bit the inside of your lip as you took his hand to lead him back to your shared tent. 

"Look, it's not ideal, but at least you don't have to do it," you said as you took the map out of his grasp, placing it on the table. "Now you can rest for a bit, that's what you need." 

He sighed softly as he scratched the back of his neck, "I guess so. I knew he was going to bring Micah up." 

"Me too, sadly." you sat on the cot, patting the spot beside you. 

Arthur sat down before wrapping his arm around you, pulling you into his side gently. "I'm sorry. I know I haven't been around much lately, and you know it's not because I don't want to." he said softly, you leaned into his side feeling his warmth. 

"I know," you said, patting his knee gently, "I know you're the workhorse, the jobs never stop. I just miss you. You're so tired that you're not yourself, y'know?" 

He nodded, "I know. People just never stop asking me for things," he took off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair, "I'm tryna provide." 

You smiled softly as you leaned to peck his cheek, "You do provide, more than you realize. You always do a great job at that." 

"I want to provide for you and Joesph," he looked at you, "Gang life isn't as easy as it used to be. People want to get out, and I know you do too." 

You weren't surprised he knew, he knows you all too well. You hadn't actually brought it up before, not sure how to or what he would say. You had realized that he was more for the new era more than you thought, not all the changes, but getting out of a troubled gang. 

"How?" you asked him, sometimes it seemed hopeless. 

"I'm not sure, it won't be easy for any of us. Maybe a few of us can pile our money together, those who want to go out together." he shrugged softly, huffing as he laid back on the cot. 

"Should I talk to the girls about it?" you looked back at him before laying down beside him. 

"Could be an idea. It won't be overnight though, but we can brainstorm." he smiled softly at you, kissing your forehead. 

You understood that, but as long as it was in the back of people's minds then that was a start. 

You wrapped your arms around him, basically rolling to lay on top of him. He laughed softly as he put his arms around you, rubbing your back gently. You smiled into his chest, finally, you could have some time with him. You could cry from the joy if you really wanted. 

You both had your eyes closed, lazily laying on the cot tangled in each other. You heard the tent flaps open but didn't care to check who it was - too wrapped up at the moment. Quite literally. 

You felt someone lay on your back, Joesph, you giggled as he joined the pile. He sprawled out on top of his parents, enjoying his father being back too. Arthur wrapped his arms around the two of you, smiling to himself as he felt the two most important things in his arms. 

"I missed you." Joesph said softly, glancing up at his father. 

"I missed you too, buddy." Arthur smiled at him, patting his back gently. 

"Can we go fishing later?" Joesph asked, his ears slightly perked up. 

"Anything you want." Arthur chuckled. Joesph just smiled and nodded, laying his head down on you again. 

"Let your father rest for a bit, please." you laughed, rolling your eyes. 

The three of you laid there for a while, enjoying each other's silent company as you rested. This is what you missed most, your family together and in one piece. Moments like these were ones you'd like to cherish forever, if you could freeze time you'd definitely keep this in a picture frame on the crate beside the bed.


	20. Ever Fallen In Love?

Ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn’t fall in love with? That is what Molly O’Shea had thought about these past few weeks. Her head raced, her heart ached and her love was paying no mind. She wasn’t one to talk with you girls, somehow getting it in her head that she must’ve been better than all of you since she slept in the same cot with Dutch. Though you thought that wasn’t all impressive, to be honest - you never told her that. She had watched you girls, many times, gathered together, giggling, giving advice, being shoulders to cry on. Part of her did not want to admit she was a tad jealous, her pride being too much for her to swallow. Molly felt as though, out of all the other women in the camp she could talk to you whenever needed. She liked Arthur, he respected her and Dutch, of course, he would do favours for her when Dutch wasn’t listening. Molly knew the two of you were trustworthy. Although she had never really talked to you that much, until today. 

It was the first day of Arthurs little two-day break, much needed as it was he was still running around the camp for people. You had scolded him to just sit and relax, he never listens when it comes to rest. He and Joesph went off to fish with John and Jack, some father-son bonding time never hurt anyone. 

You had been doing laundry, hanging it up in the cool breeze before you began much-needed patchwork on some of Joesph’s clothes. You had learnt all too well that a young boy can never stop putting holes in his clothes, you weren’t even quite sure how he had got them all. Once you fixed one, another one appeared not much later. You were beginning to think you should just teach him how to do it himself to make things easier. 

Halfway through your stitching, a shadow leered over you, too small to be Arthurs you looked up from the shirt in your hand, surprised to see Molly standing there. Did she look almost embarrassed? Her hands fiddled with her fiery Irish hair, her eyes were staring at the ground - zoned out like she was waiting to know what to say. You tilted your head in slight confusion, setting the shirt on your lap as you cleared your throat softly. 

“Molly,” you said softly, almost nervous that you were going to spook her. “Ya alright?” 

Her eyes moved off the ground towards your face, her face didn’t change much but you could see her trying to fight a smile. She half nodded, not convincing even herself. You furrowed your eyebrows a bit, patting the free spot on the log beside you. She sat on the log, keeping her distance slightly. 

“Y/N,” she was barely audible, basically whispering, “May I talk to you?” she looked at you, her hands now fiddling with the frills on her skirt. 

You were taken aback, surprised but pleased. She wanted to talk to you? High and mighty Irish O’Shea wanted to talk to you, after being so snooty to the rest of camp. Was this an honour? You weren’t really sure. 

“Sure, is something the matter?” you asked, scooting closer so you could hear her better.   
“I-I just thought I could talk to you, about … this. You seem to have your head on your shoulders.” She chuckled softly under her breath. 

“Well, I try. What’s wrong?” 

She sighed, you could tell something had been bugging her just by the body language she displayed. 

“Dutch. Something is just, off... With him. He never listens to me, always stuck in his own thoughts.” 

You nodded understandingly, you knew damn well how that could feel. 

“He never stops thinking, never takes a break for himself or for me,” she continued, “I try to talk and he shuts me down, tells me he needs to be alone with his thoughts.” 

You chewed the inside of your cheek, nodding as you listened to her. You two weren’t friends, that was made clear before - but you felt for her. You knew how that could be. Molly loved Dutch, head over heels for him. Dutch was difficult, stubborn and set in his own ways. You were surprised she had stuck around for as long as she has with him. 

"Oh, Molly, I really am sorry. I know how it feels to have that happen, it's probably just the stress of everything. It gets to him, it gets to all of us." You gently put your hand on her shoulder, not really sure how to physically comfort her. 

She nodded, smiling a small sad smile at you, "I know, just how much longer is this going to go on!? It's driving me insane." 

"Dutch loves you, Molly. He'll come around, it just takes some time to adjust, especially when he's conjuring up his plans." You squeezed her shoulder gently, returning her a smile.

"Love ain't feeling like a fool, and that's what I feel like lately." She sighed again, moving her eyes across the camp to look at Dutch as he sat and read. 

"If only I knew how to help. We both know there's not much you can do about Dutch and his stubbornness. Whatever his plans are, I'm sure they include you too." 

"Wouldn't they include all of us?" she looked at you, eyebrows slightly furrowed with confusion. 

"Oh," you bit your lip, thinking of what exactly to say to her, "well," you glanced at her, her eyes fixed on you, waiting. 

"Well," you continued, "Actually, some of us are thinking of getting out someday, hopefully, sooner than later?" You said, your own voice now smaller than normal. 

She thought for a moment before nodding, "It's the way of the world now, I understand. We all need to evaluate how we live." She smiled at you. 

You smiled, glad she understood. "Time's are changing." you agreed. 

"Does Dutch know?" she asked. 

"No. I don't think so. More than likely has an inkling though, he knows it's been talked around before." You shrugged your shoulders, you knew you weren't going to tell it to his face, you left that up to Arthur and John. 

She nodded, she often thought about getting out herself too - she wanted Dutch to come with her though, that was the thing stopping her. 

"Maybe I'll talk to him again," she said, "Talk then give him some space since that's all he seems to want lately. Could go into town for a few days, take some time to myself." she laughed softly, more out of sympathy for herself. 

She stood up, giving you a thankful smile before heading off to her tent. You watched as she walked away, still not quite sure if that just happened. Maybe she chose you because of Arthur? She didn't seem all that bad right now, considering you now knew she actually had feelings. 

You thought to yourself as you turned your attention back to stitching your son's shirt. You must've been deeper in your thoughts than you had realized, coming back to reality you were greeted with Arthur walking over towards you. 

"Ya alright?" He smiled at you as he sat beside you, watching you sew. 

"I'm fine," you smiled at him, "only, Molly just came over to talk to me, so that's ... new." 

He raised an eyebrow at you as he chuckled. "Oh? A new friend?" 

"I have no idea. She came to talk about Dutch," you shrugged, "he's not listening to her."

"Does he listen to anyone?" he asked, a bit of seriousness in his voice. 

You laughed softly before rolling your eyes, shaking your head. "No, not really... Maybe you." 

"Everyone listens to me." he grinned at you, making you snort slightly. 

"Yeah, well, maybe they shouldn't." you teased, nudging his shoulder gently.


	21. Come So Far (Got So Far To Go)

That night you had decided to finally sit down and talk to the girls about getting out. Arthur's plan of pooling money together sounded like a smart plan to you, but you needed to make sure they were also on board. You had no doubts that they’d more than likely agree, but you were always one to overthink things like this. The spirits of the camp were still good - considering Charles and Javier hadn’t brought back Micah yet. You were dreading when they came back, knowing that something was going to go down, although you had to admit you were excited to see if Arthur would give Micah what he deserved. 

It was panning out to be like any other normal night, fires going, drinks flowing, random conversations and games going on. Now was a good time as ever to talk about it, you weren’t nervous per se - but it wasn’t a topic of conversation that was brought up too often. 

You had told each one of the girls to meet you over near the water, somewhere that was far enough away but not too far. It was your common spot to sit together anyway, making it not too suspicious. It’s not like talking about this was wrong, you just weren’t sure how others felt about it. Dutch knew people talked about it before, he too knew it was almost time, but not being with Arthur and John was hard for him. Arthur’s job was to talk to him and Hosea when the time was right, knowing that he’d listen to him better than anyone else. You had reminded Arthur every time he talked about it to remind his two father figures that you’re not leaving them for good, just going out for your own life - nobody said you can’t visit or live near each other. 

You’d been all across this country with the gang, and yet nowhere ever felt truly like a home. You needed to set down actual roots, that’s what you dreamed of at this point. An at least semi-normal life, not running all the time. Honestly not living in a tent anymore, not having to worry about who was listening to you, about the law - it sounded like pure paradise. 

\- 

“So we just put whatever money in the lockbox?” Karen asked, taking another swig of rum. 

You nodded, the girls looking at you - deep in thought. 

“Money or items of value, it really doesn’t matter how much but we should start it soon,” you said, looking at them. “It couldn’t hurt.” 

“Doing that in a group like this would build it faster.” Sadie added. 

“It’s a good idea, I think we should try it.” Abigail smiled at you, restless herself to get out of the camp life. 

“Arthur would keep track of it, it was his idea anyway, to pool the money together.” You nodded, chewing the inside of your cheek. 

“Is someone going to tell the bosses?” Mary-Beth asked. 

“Arthur and John, I think,” Tilly replied you nodded in agreement. “They’ll know what to say.” she smiled. 

“Well,” you gently slapped your hands on your legs, “seems like we’re doing this then!” you sighed lightly with relief. 

The conversation went smooth, not that you weren’t expecting it to. The plan was now in their minds, that was the main thing. Anyone who wanted to join in could- part of you was worried that you’d all just camp together again with pooling money. But, Arthur said once there was enough splitting it would be ideal, letting people get a headstart on whatever they wanted to do with their share. You knew Arthur would get you wherever you needed, all he wanted was his family to be safe and happy. Part of him was excited to start over, make an honest life - he wasn’t exactly sure what he was going to do for that but he could cross that bridge when needed. He could just be a bounty hunter, that was honest enough. 

For the next while, you girls just sat on the sand near the lake, talking about your new future aspirations. Some plans may have been too unrealistic, but it was nice to dream. It felt like the seed was planted, and that got everyone excited. Karen was already conjuring up different ways to get vast amounts of money. 

You were feeling yourself getting tired, the excitement probably wearing you out - not to mention the fresh air, the sound of the lake or the few beers you’d consumed. You excused yourself from the group, yawning before standing up, some of the girls joining in. 

“Hey,” Arthur smiled at you as you made your way over to the tent, “how’d it go?” 

“Great, they’re all in for it. Already thinking of ways to make some cash.” you giggled softly as you closed the tent flaps. 

Arthur smiled again and nodded before returning his attention to his journal, his typical routine. You yawned again as you proceeded to change into a nightgown, throwing your hair up and out of your face. You laid down in the cot, watching Arthur as he was focused on writing, you poked his shoulder with your foot gently. He raised his eyebrow and glanced back at you, wondering if that was really your foot he just felt. 

You giggled softly moving your leg back down on the cot, “So when are ya gonna talk to Dutch and Hosea?” you asked, leaning over to grab your book from the crate. 

He shrugged softly as he finished up his writing, closing his leather-bound journal and placing it on his bag. “When we’re closer to having the funds, probably… don’t wanna bring it up too early. They all have a feeling, I’m sure.” 

You nodded and opened your book, trying to find the page you had left on as Arthur laid beside you putting his arm over your middle. 

“Speaking of,” he said before kissing your shoulder, “did Molly say anything to you before leaving?” 

You looked over at him, furrowing your eyebrows slightly, “No, she didn’t. When’d she leave? Did she talk to Dutch?” 

“They were yellin at each other, nothing new. Must’ve been while you were down at the lake.” he shrugged again before yawning himself. 

“Well, she said she was gonna talk to him - I guess she did. She’s probably just giving him time to cool off.” 

“That’s if she comes back, I think she had a bag or something.” he said, placing his head on your chest as he scanned over the page of your book. 

You chewed the inside of your cheek, your eyebrows still furrowed together in slight concern. Was she gone for good? Where was she going to go? Was she going to tell someone where the gang was? 

Arthur looked over at you, raising an eyebrow as he shook his head slightly. “It’s fine, don’t worry, she’ll come back I’m sure.” 

You nodded softly, trying to bring your attention back to your open book. 

"I sure hope so," you glanced at him for a moment, smiling softly. "I love you."

“I love you too, princess. Just think about our future, we won’t be in a tent forever.” he chuckled softly, kissing your jawline. 

That was true. Whatever happened, you had Arthur and Joesph. Wherever the trail may lead, you knew you wouldn’t be on the trail alone.


End file.
